Annual Effective Dose Due to Ingestion and Inhalation of Radon in Tap-Water from Some Preparatory Schools, Samawa City, Iraq

Abstract

Radon and its radioactive progenies in the indoor environment have been identified as the main sources of public radiation dose. The presence of radon in drinking tap water and other household uses can increase the indoor radon level and cause radiation-related health hazards, both through inhalation and ingestion. The present research measures radon concentrations in 140 tap water samples collected from 14 preparatory schools in Samawa City (with an average of 10 samples for each school) using the active electronic radon detector RAD7. The results show that radon concentrations varied from (0.11 ± 0.6 Bq/L) to (1.986 ± 1.59 Bq/L) with a mean concentration of (0.605± 0.6475 Bq/L). The annual effective dose due to ingestion and inhalation was calculated. Also, the minimum and maximum mean values of the total annual effective are calculated and found to be (0.263 μSv/yr) and (2.325 μSv/yr), respectively. The measured values of radon gas activity concentrations and annual effective dose in all samples are lower than that of the safe limit prescribed by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (11 Bq/L), 4 to 40 Bq/L suggested by United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, and World health organization (100 Bq/L for radon concentration and 100 μSv/yr for annual dose), indicating no significant radiological hazards for the inhabitants in the study area.