Investigation of the influence of buildings on the total gamma background radiation

Abstract

The influence of buildings on the total gamma background radiation was investigated. The total gamma radiation between a building made from bricks and a field, which are 100 m apart (away from the influence of other buildings), was measured using a scintillation detector. Measurements of ambient equivalent dose rate at different heights above the soil and a horizontal distance from 0.1 m – 100 m in variable steps were taken. A new approach was developed to assess the contribution of gamma background radiation from the soil and the building to the total gamma background radiation. It was obtained that the gamma background radiation contributed by buildings, greatly affects the total gamma background radiation up to a distance of 2 m, at which there was a significant decrease in the total gamma background radiation. The percentage of the building that contributes to the total gamma background radiation is noted to be between 4 – 29% of the total gamma background. This shows that most of the background radiation in the environment is contributed by the gamma background radiation in the soil. Also, the annual equivalent dose received by a person who sits near the building was 0.09 mSv, which was higher than an adult who works far away from the building (0.08 mSv). Both were however less than the global level. It also was found that the best place to install a detector for measuring gamma radiation was found to be a distance of 1.5 m away from the building.

Keywords

• buildings
• gamma background radiation
• ambient equivalent dose rate
• soil
• annual equivalent dose
• здания
• гамма-фон
• мощность амбиентного эквивалентна дозы
• почва
• годовая эквивалентная доза