Measurement of Indoor Radon and Thoron Concentration in Environment of Shahjahanpur District of Uttar Pradesh

Anil Kumar, Arunesh Saxenaa, R. B. S. Rawata

Abstract: Measurement of radon and thoron concentration was carried out in the residential houses of district Shahjahanpur; Uttar Pradesh using solid state nuclear track detector (SSNTD). Radon and thoron are the most important contributions to human exposure from natural sources. Radon exists in soil gas; building materials; Indoor atmosphere etc. Among all the natural sources of radiation dose to human beings; inhalation of radon contributes a lot. The work presented here emphasizes the measurement of indoor radon and thoron concentration in 75 dosimeters using solid state nuclear track detector in different types of dwellings of Shahjahanpur district. The measurements were made in residential houses at a height of 2 m from ground level using a twin chamber radon dosimeter. It is found that the value of radon concentration varies from 10.60 Bq/m3 to 68.00 Bq/m3 with an average of 27.88 Bq/m3 and thoron concentration varies from 7.33 Bq/m3 to 30.00 Bq/m3 with an average of 16.74 Bq/m3 respectively. All the values in the above study have been found under the safe limit laid down by International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and United Nations Scientific Committee on the effect of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR).

Keywords: radon, thoron, mud houses, SSNTD, twin cup dosimeter