Measurement of radium content and radon exhalation rates in soil samples along the coastal regions of karunagapally, Kollam District, Kerala Monica S.*, Soniya S.R., Prasad A.K. Visnu, Jojo P.J. Center for Advanced Research in Physical Sciences, Department of Physics, Fatima Mata National College (Autonomous), Kollam, India *Corresponding author
Online published on 24 May, 2018. Abstract Indoor radon at elevated levels can be one of the health hazards for the general people. Soil and building materials used for construction of houses are considered as major sources of radon gas in indoor environment. Radon emanated from the soil accumulates in indoor environment and contributes to 55% of inhalation dose. In the present work, the radon exhalation rates in some soil sample collected from the coastal region of Karunagapally, Kollam district, were measured using ‘Canister’ technique. Sealed can technique` using LR-115 type-2 plastic track detector strippable has been used in order to measure effective radium content, radon mass exhalation rates and radon surface exhalation rates. Etching was done with 2.5 N NaOH and Spark counter was used with the purpose of counting of alpha particle tracks. The values of effective radium content were found to range from 0.155to 0.755 Bq/Kg with the mean value of 0.367 Bq/Kg which are lower than the permitted value of 370 Bq/Kg as recommended by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The values of surface exhalation rates are found to range from 0.0171 to 0.131 Bq/m2h with the mean value of 0.0688 Bq/m2h while the values of surface exhalation rates are found to range from 0.00149 to 0.00685 Bq/Kgh with the mean value of 0.00354 Bq/Kg h. Top Keywords Radium content, Healthhazards, Surface exhalation rate, Mass exhalation rate. Top |