Determination of Indoor Radon Concentration and Effective Dose Equivalent at Workplaces of Afyonkarahisar Province

Abstract

It is commonly known that people are exposed to radon and its progenies since they spend about 35% of daytime at workplaces. This exposure has been reported to be more than 50% of the natural radiation. Therefore, determination of indoor radon concentration has been widely conducted by the scientists. This work presents indoor radon measurements and the associated annual dose equivalentsobtained in 28 public buildings of the Afyonkarahisar province. The survey was conducted using passive nuclear track detectors and repeated quarterly during a year.The investigation focused on the seasonal and regional effects in indoor radon concentration anomalies. The measured values ranged from 13 Bq.m-3to 1932 Bq.m-3, whereas the calculated average values were in the range of 21,75 Bq.m-3and 1032,50Bq.m-3. Moreover, the mean indoor radon concentration and the corresponding annual dose equivalent valueswere obtained as 158,83±13,16Bq.m-3and 1,25±0,10mSv.y-1, respectively.

Keywords

• Indoor radon concentration
• Nuclear track detectors
• Workplaces
• Annual dose equivalent
• Afyonkarahisar