Origin of radon in medicinal waters of Lądek Zdrój (Sudety Mountains, SW Poland) (original) (raw)
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Exposure to radon in the radon spa Niška Banja, Serbia
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There is a well-known radon spa Ni ska Banja in southeast of Serbia. In Ni ska Banja spa there is a medical complex and radon is used for therapeutic purposes for many different diseases. This paper presents elevated radon levels in the Ni ska Banja spa. Indoor radon and radon in water activity concentration measurements in thermal pools and therapy rooms are presented. There are also results from gamma spectrometry measurements of soil, rock and therapy mud. A special attention is paid to the medical staff exposure to radon around thermal pools. The annual effective doses from radon for staff working around the thermal pools in Ni ska Banja spa are very high comparing to the maximum recommendation level. The maximal radon concentration of (22.90 AE 0.57) kBq m À3 was measured in the basement of the hoteldispensary "Radon". This hotel is settled on "bigar" rock e travertine, which has high content of 226 Ra.
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Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 2011
An important parameter for evaluating the possibilities of use of enclosed spaces (mines, caves, spas, etc.) for therapeutic purposes is the concentration of radon in different conditions of ventilation. The aim of this paper is to present the results of continuous radon gas measurement that were performed for ten days, at 20 min time intervals in different locations from Cacica salt mine (Romania) using a portable radon monitor. The average radon concentration was found to be between 96.5 ± 4.76 Bq/m 3 and 20.5 ± 1.30 Bq/m 3 . These values are suitable for therapeutic applications and are useful for future experiments regarding the development of the radon therapy and speleotherapy in this salt mine.
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In an undisturbed area with little air circulation, the short-lived radon daughters will come into equilibrium with the parent radon, that is, the concentration (measured in Bq I m 3) of radon in air will be equal to the concentration of each of the daughters. However, due to removal processes such as ventilation, plateout ofradon daughters on surfaces, and attachment of these daughters on the aerosol, it is unlikely for radon and its daughters to be in equilibrium in the air. This implies that the concentration of radon daughters is usually less than that of radon in a given equilibrium mixture. A quantity that describes the state of disequilibrium between the concentration of radon and that of its daughters in air is called the equilibrium factor or the F factor. The radiological dose associated with a certain level of radon is determined by the daughter mixture in equilibrium with radon. Knowledge about the value of the F factor is therefore important for assessment ofradon dose delivered to human species due to inhalation of air contaminated with radon gas, especially in unventilated uranium-bearing underground mines where workers are usually exposed to higher levels of radon. The aim of this study was to calculate the equilibrium factor on different locations in the underground mining environment. This factor was calculated from the measured concentration ofradon and that of its short-lived daughters on different locations underground. The measurements of the concentrations were taken using two types of device, namely, scintillation cells and ML98B Radiation Spectrometer for Radon (ML98B RSR). The former were used to measure the concentration of radon and the latter was used to measure the concentrations of the daughters. On every location, the measurements of the scintillation cells and that of the ML98B RSR were taken simultaneously to ensure that the F factor was the same for both instruments. The results obtained indicate that the levels of concentration of radon and that of its short-lived daughters were different on different locations. The measured concentrations were later used to calculate the values of the F factor which also were different on different locations.
MONITORING OF RADON LEVELS IN SOME TOURISTIC UNDERGROUND ENVIRONMENTS FROM ROMANIA
The purpose of this research is to provide the distribution of radon levels in three underground environments of tourist interest from Romania (" Urşilor " Cave, " Muierilor " Cave and Turda Salt Mine). This study is of great interest since it identifies the values that could present a potential long-term health risk for the full-time staff (guides) spending extended periods conducting tours or carrying out maintenance within these underground environments and less for tourists. Furthermore, a possible relationship between the radon values and the local geology was disscused. Indoor radon concentrations were measured by using solid state CR-39 type RSKS nuclear track-etch detectors that were exposed from 3 to 6 months. The results reveal low radon levels in salt mine with the annual average concentration below the detection limit (around 8 Bq m-3), related to the salt plastic rock without fissures, fractures and consequently, without circulation pathways for radon into the salt mine chambers. This type of environment is proper to be used for speleotheraphy and spa tourism. " Muierilor cave " has relatively low radon concentration varying between 63 and 172 Bq m-3 , with only one value of 1184 Bq m-3 , as compared with " Urșilor " Cave, which values are in the range of 783-1795 Bq m-3 indicating the need of further long term monitoring by using both the passive and the active methods. Our results are comparable with radon concentration in different underground environments reported from other European surveys, lower than many of them. Geological background of these areas could sustain the measured values, on the one side due to the presence of granitic plutons and even the uraniferous mineralizations proximity, and on the other side due to the presence of limestone and its gneiss and mica-schist rocks basement that causes the low diffusion coefficient of radon.
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The study involved investigation of the relationship between the radon concentrations in the ground air – and thus in the indoor air – and the geological structure of the Lubelskie Voivodeship (eastern Poland). Both passive and active methods were used for measuring the radon concentrations in coal, phosphate and chalk mines, caves, wells as well as indoor environments. The study also included elemental, uranium and lead isotope analyses of rocks. The performed research showed that Paleogene and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks rich in radionuclides are the sources of radon in the Lubelskie Voivodeship. In the case of the buildings located in proximity to such rocks, characterized by relatively high radon exhalations, radon remediation methods are recommended. Already at the designing stage of buildings, the measures which protect against the hazardous radon gas should be applied.
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Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 2016
We examined the Csal oka Spring, which has the highest radon concentration in the Sopron Mountains (West Hungary) (, yearly average of 227 ± 10 Bq L À1). The main rock types here are gneiss and micaschist, formed from metamorphism of former granitic and clastic sedimentary rocks respectively. The aim of the study was to find a likely source of the high radon concentration in water. During two periods (2007e2008 and 2012e2013) water samples were taken from the Csal oka Spring to measure its radon concentration (from 153 ± 9 Bq L À1 to 291 ± 15 Bq L À1). Soil and rock samples were taken within a 10-m radius of the spring from debrish and from a deformed gneiss outcrop 500 m away from the spring. The radium activity concentration of the samples (between 24.3 ± 2.9 Bq kg À1 and 145 ± 6.0 Bq kg À1) was measured by gamma-spectroscopy, and the specific radon exhalation was determined using radon-chamber measurements (between 1.32 ± 0.5 Bq kg À1 and 37.1 ± 2.2 Bq kg À1). Based on these results a model calculation was used to determine the maximum potential radon concentration, which the soil or the rock may provide into the water. We showed that the maximum potential radon concentration of these mylonitic gneissic rocks (c pot ¼ 2020 Bq L À1) is about eight times higher than the measured radon concentration in the water. However the maximum potential radon concentration for soils are significantly lower (41.3 Bq L À1) Based on measurements of radon exhalation and porosity of rock and soil samples we concluded that the source material can be the gneiss rock around the spring rather than the soil there. We determined the average radon concentration and the time dependence of the radon concentration over these years in the spring water. We obtained a strong negative correlation (À0.94 in period of 2007 e2008 and À0.91 in 2012e2013) between precipitation and radon concentration.