Meisenberg, O. ; Mishra, R.* ; Joshi, M.* ; Gierl, S. ; Rout, R.* ; Guo, L. ; Agarwal, T.* ; Kanse, S.M.* ; Irlinger, J. ; Sapra, B.K.* ; Tschiersch, J.
Radon and thoron inhalation doses in dwellings with earthen architecture: Comparison of measurement methods.
Sci. Total Environ. 579, 1855-1862 (2017)
The radioactive noble gas radon (222Rn) and its decay products have been considered a health risk in the indoor environment for many years because of their contribution to the radiation dose of the lungs. The radioisotope thoron (220Rn) and its decay products came into focus of being a health risk only recently. The reason for this is its short half-life, so only building material can become a significant source for indoor thoron. In this study, dwellings with earthen architecture were investigated with different independent measurement techniques in order to determine appropriate methods for reliable dose assessment of the dwellers. While for radon dose assessment, radon gas measurement and the assumption of a common indoor equilibrium factor often are sufficient, thoron gas has proven to be an unreliable surrogate for a direct measurement of thoron decay products. Active/time-resolved but also passive/integrating measurements of the total concentration of thoron decay products demonstrated being precise and efficient methods for determining the exposure and inhalation dose from thoron and its decay products. Exhalation rate measurements are a useful method for a rough dose estimate only if the exhalation rate is homogeneous throughout the house. Before the construction of a building in-vitro exhalation rate measurements on the building material can yield information about the exposure that is to be expected. Determining the unattached fraction of radon decay products and even more of thoron decay products leads to only a slightly better precision; this confirms the relative unimportance of the unattached thoron decay products due to their low concentration. The results of this study thereby give advice on the proper measurement method in similar exposure situations.
Impact Factor
Scopus SNIP
Web of Science
Times Cited
Scopus
Cited By
Altmetric
Publikationstyp
Artikel: Journalartikel
Dokumenttyp
Wissenschaftlicher Artikel
Typ der Hochschulschrift
Herausgeber
Schlagwörter
Clay Dwelling ; Indoor Exposure ; Inhalation Dose Assessment ; Measurement Method ; Radon ; Thoron; Decay Products; Progeny Measurements; Indoor Environment; China; Atmospheres; Exposures; Sensors; Members; Rn-220; Gansu
Keywords plus
Sprache
englisch
Veröffentlichungsjahr
2017
Prepublished im Jahr
2016
HGF-Berichtsjahr
2016
ISSN (print) / ISBN
0048-9697
e-ISSN
1879-1026
ISBN
Bandtitel
Konferenztitel
Konferzenzdatum
Konferenzort
Konferenzband
Quellenangaben
Band: 579,
Heft: ,
Seiten: 1855-1862
Artikelnummer: ,
Supplement: ,
Reihe
Verlag
Elsevier
Verlagsort
Amsterdam
Tag d. mündl. Prüfung
0000-00-00
Betreuer
Gutachter
Prüfer
Topic
Hochschule
Hochschulort
Fakultät
Veröffentlichungsdatum
0000-00-00
Anmeldedatum
0000-00-00
Anmelder/Inhaber
weitere Inhaber
Anmeldeland
Priorität
Begutachtungsstatus
Peer reviewed
POF Topic(s)
30504 - Mechanisms of Genetic and Environmental Influences on Health and Disease
Forschungsfeld(er)
Radiation Sciences
PSP-Element(e)
G-501100-002
G-501100-001
Förderungen
Copyright
Erfassungsdatum
2016-12-31