Estimation and seasonal variation of indoor radon and gamma dose level in the dwellings of entire east coast of Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Radon concentration and gamma dose rates have been measured in different types of dwellings (94 dwellings) of the east coast of Tamil Nadu, India, on a quarterly basis using solid state nuclear track detectors and thermoluminescent dosimeters, respectively. Higher level of radon concentration is observed for winter season followed by spring, rainy, and summer seasons. On the contrary, the gamma dose rate for winter season is slightly lower than other three seasons. In this study, the average annual radon concentration (19.02 Bq/m3) is much lower than the recommended safe limit of 300 Bq/m3 while gamma dose rate (1.5 mGy/y) is much higher than the world average value of 0.520 mGy/y.

Keywords

• Dwellings
• gamma dose rate
• radon
• seasonal variation
• Tamil Nadu coast