• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제47권4호
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• pp.237-245
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• 2022

Background: The current study reports measurements of activity concentrations of radon (²²⁰Rn) and thoron (²²⁰Rn) in dwellings, followed by inhalation dose assessment of the public, and then by the development of regulation and the national radon action plan (NRAP) in Cameroon. Materials and Methods: Radon, thoron, and thoron progeny measurements were carried out from 2014 to 2017 using radon-thoron discriminative detectors (commercially RADUET) in 450 dwellings and thoron progeny monitors in 350 dwellings. From 2019 to 2020, radon track detectors (commercially RADTRAK) were deployed in 1,400 dwellings. It was found that activity concentrations of radon range in 1,850 houses from 10 to 2,620 Bq/㎥ with a geometric mean of 76 Bq/㎥. Results and Discussion: Activity concentrations of thoron range from 20 to 700 Bq/㎥ with a geometric mean of 107 Bq/㎥. Thoron equilibrium factor ranges from 0.01 to 0.6, with an arithmetic mean of 0.09 that is higher than the default value of 0.02 given by UNSCEAR. On average, 49%, 9%, and 2% of all surveyed houses have radon concentrations above 100, 200, and 300 Bq/㎥, respectively. The average contribution of thoron to the inhalation dose due to radon and thoron exposure is about 40%. Thus, thoron cannot be neglected in dose assessment to avoid biased results in radio-epidemiological studies. Only radon was considered in the drafted regulation and in the NRAP adopted in October 2020. Reference levels of 300 Bq/㎥ and 1,000 Bq/㎥ were recommended for dwellings and workplaces. Conclusion: Priority actions for the coming years include the following: radon risk mapping, promotion of a protection policy against radon in buildings, integration of the radon prevention and mitigation into the training of construction specialists, mitigation of dwellings and workplaces with high radon levels, increased public awareness of the health risks associated with radon, and development of programs on the scientific and technical aspects.

• 한국건축시공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국건축시공학회 2018년도 춘계 학술논문 발표대회
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• pp.226-227
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• 2018

Recently, as the interest of the government and the public on energy saving has increased, the airtightness of buildings has been improved to improve the insulation performance of buildings. However, indoor air pollution due to increase of pollution source in indoor space and lack of ventilation is increasing and interest in indoor air quality is increasing. In 2003, the Ministry of Environment enacted and promulgated the Act on Indoor Air Quality Control in Multi-use Facilities. Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive inert gas with colorless, tasteless and odorless nature. The concentration is high in a room where radon can not escape. Although lononggas is naturally occurring, it is not interested in living environment, but it is easily inhaled through human body through respiration and causes lung cancer in long-term exposure. Therefore, this study intends to carry out an experiment for the reduction of radon gas, which is the first carcinogen in indoor air pollution sources.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제24권4호
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• pp.518-527
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• 2014

Objectives: The adverse health effects attributed to exposure to radon have been well known over the world. However, the efforts for prevention and mitigation of radon have not been taken in Korea so far. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation methods applied for various types of houses and public buildings with high level of radon. Methods: Based on the results of "National Radon Survey" performed by the National Institute of Environmental Research(NIER) in 2010-2012, we selected 30 candidate buildings consisting of 20 houses and 10 public buildings with greater than $148Bq/m^3$ of radon level. We measured the concentration of radon in 30 buildings, using E-PERMs and RAD-7 during January to March of 2013. More than five E-PERMs and one RAD-7 per house were installed for seven days. Ten houses and five public buildings were finally chosen to be mitigated after mainly considering the level of radon and the location of buildings nationwide. Three mitigation methods such as Sealing, two types of Active Ventilation(window-shaped and wall-typed ventilations), and Active Soil Depressurization(ASD) were applied, and the concentrations of radon were measured before and after mitigation, respectively. To evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation methods, reduction rates of radon were calculated and Wilcoxon's signed-rank test was performed. Results: The mean concentration of 15 buildings just before radon mitigation was $297.8Bq/m^3$, and most of the buildings were located in Gangwon, Chungbuk, Chungnam, and Daegu areas(73.3%), and built in 1959-1998. The level of radon decreased from 48% to 90% and kept the below recommendation limit of $148Bq/m^3$ after installation of radon mitigation. Among mitigation methods applied, the reduction rate(58.7-90.4%) of radon attributed to ASD was the greatest than that of other methods, followed by Active Ventilation(48.4-78.4%) and Sealing(<22%). The effectiveness of radon reduction by window-shaped Active Ventilation(63.2-75.2%) was relatively better than that of wall-typed Active Ventilation(48.4-54.3%). Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that ASD could be more effective for radon mitigation. Moreover, our findings would be background information in future for making the strategy for radon mitigation nationwide, as well as for developing Korean-version of mitigation techniques according to types of dwellings in Korea.

• 한국방사선학회논문지
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• 제14권3호
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• pp.313-318
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• 2020

라돈은 불활성기체로서 단원자분자이기 때문에 입자 하나의 크기가 원자 하나의 크기를 나타내며 이는 대략 반경 1~100 nm를 가지고 있다는 것을 의미한다. 따라서 마스크가 차단하는 일반적인 미세먼지, 초 미세먼지의 크기보다 작은 반경을 가지지만 일정 이상의 라돈의 흡입을 차단할 수 있다면 평소 실내착용을 통해 라돈의 흡입을 통한 피폭을 줄일 수 있을 것으로 사료된다. 이에 따라 일상생활에서 착용하는 마스크의 라돈 차단 효과를 알아보고자 한다. 각각의 마스크 별 라돈 감소율을 보면 면 마스크가 33.45%, 의료용 마스크가 33.50%, KF80 마스크가 35.12%, KF94 마스크가 37.72% 순으로 감소하였다. 면, 의료용 마스크가 KF 마스크보다 라돈 차단 효과가 다소 떨어지지만 그 차이는 크지 않아 마스크의 착용만으로도 공기 중 라돈의 유입을 일정 수준 차단할 수 있음을 알 수 있었다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권8호
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• pp.3046-3053
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• 2023

Radon is a naturally occurring carcinogenic agent, poses a serious health hazard when inhaled or ingested in significant amounts. The water of the Padma river will be used as a tertiary coolant for the soon-to-be-commissioned 'Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant'. Hence, it is important to assess the radiological status of the river prior to the commission of this power plant. Therefore, for the first time, 25 samples of water were collected from various locations of the Padma River and analyzed for radon concentration using the RAD H₂O (DURRIDGE) radon monitoring device. The radon concentrations were found in the range from 0.077 ± 0.036 to 0.494 ± 0.211 Bq/L with a mean of 0.250 ± 0.093 Bq/L. All the concentrations were found to be below the recommended limits of WHO (100 Bq/L) and USEPA (11.1 Bq/L). The mean annual effective dose due to the radon exposure via inhalation and ingestion pathways were 0.638 µSv/y and 0.629 µSv/y, respectively, which were all well below the annual effective dose recommended by WHO (0.1 mSv/y). Since Bangladesh lacks a national safety limit of radon in water, this pioneering study provides baseline data on radon levels for the environment around Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.

• 한국대기환경학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국대기환경학회 2004년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.148-149
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• 2004

• 한국방사선학회논문지
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• 제8권4호
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• pp.211-216
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• 2014

자연방사선 물질인 라돈($^{222}Rn$)은 암석이나 토양 또는 건축자재 중에 들어있는 우라늄($^{238}U$)이 몇 단계의 방사성 붕괴 과정을 거친 후 생성되는 무색무취의 불활성기체로 지하 근무지나 밀폐된 공간과 같은 곳에서 잘 축적된다. 호흡기를 통하여 허파로 유입되고 라돈의 딸핵종이 허파나 기관지에 침적되어 폐암을 일으키는 원인이 된다. 본 연구에서는 초등학교 교실내의 공기 중 라돈가스농도을 비교하였으며 계측된 값을 이용하여 연간내부피폭량을 계산하였다. 초등학교 교실에서 측정된 라돈가스 피폭은 최소 5개교에서 층별 평균치가 창문을 닫을 때의 경우 1층 0.56mSv, 2층 0.48mSv, 3층 0.384mSv의 평균치가 나왔으며, 창문을 열었을 때의 경우 1층과 2층은 0.31mSv 수치로 같고 3층은 0.296mSv로평균치가 나왔다. 라돈에 대한 인체 피폭은 1층에서 피폭이 많고 3층에서는 피폭이 적었다. 창문을 닫았을 때의 경우 최대 0.56mSv 최소 0.384mSv로 자연방사선에 의한 연간피폭량에 2.4mSv 16%에서 23.3%를 차지하고 있다. 창문을 열었을 때의 경우 최대 0.31mSv 최소 0.296mSv로 연간피폭량 2.4mSv의 12.3%에서 12.91%를 차지한다. 결과로 보아 라돈가스 계측을 실시한 5개 초등학교의 경우 국내의 라돈기준치 이하로 나왔으며 내부피폭 역시 정상범위 내에 속한다. 사람에게 있어서 방사선피폭이 적으면 적을수록 인체에 대한 영향이 줄어들기 때문에 초등학교 교실 내에서 창문을 자주 환기한다면 즉, 공기 중 라돈농도를 최대한 줄인다면 라돈가스에 대한 피폭량을 줄일 수 있을 것이며 면역력이 약한 초등학생에게 도움이 될 것이다. 실험에 있어서 향후 더 많은 초등학교 기관에 대해 라돈가스 조사가 이루어지고 그에 따른 조치를 행한다면 보다 더 안전한 초등학교 건물시설 확립에 도움이 될 것이라 생각된다.

• 대한방사선기술학회지:방사선기술과학
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• 제44권5호
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• pp.489-494
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• 2021

In this study, radioactivity quantitative analysis was performed on radon contained in cigarette, and the effective dose was calculated using the result value to determine the amount of exposure caused by smoking. A total of 5 types of cigarettes were sampled. Cigarette smoke was collected by using activated carbon, and tobacco were measured by homogenizing for quantitative analysis. For each sample, Bi-214 and Pb-214 were subjected to gamma nuclide analysis to observe the uranium-based radioactive material contained in cigarette, and a measurement time of 30,000 seconds was set for the sample based on the results of previous studies. As a result of measuring the radioactivity of tobacco, a maximum of 0.715 Bq/kg was derived, and in the case of cigarette smoke measured using activated carbon, a maximum of 3.652 Bq/kg was derived. Using this measurement, the average effective dose to the lungs is 0.938 mSv/y, and it was found that there is a possibility of receiving exposure up to 1.099 mSv/y depending on the type of tobacco. It was found that the exposure dose due to cigarette occupies a large proportion of the annual effective dose limit for the general public. Therefore, more diverse studies on radioactive substances in cigarette are needed, and measures to monitor and reduce the incidental exposure to radon should be established.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제45권3호
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• pp.203-212
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• 2019

Objective: A total of five students at same middle school were reported to be diagnosed with pediatric leukemia (n=2), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL, n=1) and aplastic anemia (n=2) between 2016 and 2017. The aims of this study are to assess exposure to environmental hazardous agents known to be associated with the risk of leukemia and to examine whether the environment of school is associated with the risk leukemia. Method: A total of 11 environmental agents causing childhood leukemia were monitored using international certified method in schools where patients had ever attended. Radon & Thoron detector was used to monitor real-time airborne radon and thoron level ($Bq/m^3$). Clinician interviewed two among nine patients who agreed to participate in this study in order to examine the association of demographic and genetic factors by individually. Leukemia, NHL, and aplastic anemia were grouped into lymphohematopoietic disorder (LHP). Results: Except for airborne radon level, no environmental agents in school and household where patients may be exposed were found to higher than recommended airborne level. Clinical investigation found no individual factors that may be associated with the risk of LHP. Higher airborne radon level than Korea EPA's airborne radon criteria ($148Bq/m^3$) was monitored at most of several after-class room of one elementary school, where two leukemia patients graduated. Significant radon level was not monitored at class-room. Significant exposure to radon of patients was not estimated based on time-activity pattern. Conclusions: Our results have concluded that there have been no environmental factors in school and household environment that may be associated the risk of LHP.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제40권7호
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• pp.539-550
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• 2008

Lung cancer is the most prevalent global cancer, ${\sim}90%$ of which is caused by cigarette smoking. The LNT hypothesis has been inappropriately applied to estimate lung cancer risk due to ionizing radiation. A threshold of ${\sim}1\;Gy$ for lung cancer has been observed in never smokers. Lung cancer risk among nuclear workers, radiologists and diagnostically exposed patients was typically reduced by ${\sim}40%$ following exposure to <100 mSv low LET radiation. The consistency and magnitude of reduced lung cancer in nuclear workers and occurrence of reduced lung cancer in exposed non-worker populations could not be explained by the HWE. Ecologic studies of indoor radon showed highly significant reductions in lung cancer risk. A similar reduction in lung cancer was seen in a recent well designed case-control study of indoor radon, indicating that exposure to radon at the EPA action level is associated with a decrease of ${\sim}60%$ in lung cancer. A cumulative whole-body dose of ${\sim}1\;Gy$ gamma rays is associated with a marked decrease in smoking-induced lung cancer in plutonium workers. Low dose, low LET radiation appears to increase apoptosis mediated removal of $\alpha$-particle and cigarette smoke transformed pulmonary cells before they can develop into lung cancer.