Radon Exposure Assessment and Relative Effective Dose Estimation to Inhabitants of Puglia Region, South Italy

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2015 Nov 23;12(11):14948-57. doi: 10.3390/ijerph121114948.

Abstract

Indoor radon concentrations were measured in dwellings of the Puglia region in Southern Italy using LR-115 passive detectors. The results show that the radon concentrations varied from 15 ± 2 to 2166 ± 133 Bq/m³ with a geometric mean of 114 Bq/m³ and a geometric standard deviation of 2.3. An analysis on the factors affecting radon concentration such as age of the dwellings, floors, and stories, was performed. The mean effective dose to inhabitants has been calculated and found to be 8.2 mSv/y. Finally, for estimation of cancer risks, the lifetime risk and lung cancer cases per years per million have been calculated.

Keywords: LR-115 detectors; Puglia-South Italy; effective dose; radon indoor.

MeSH terms

  • Air Pollutants, Radioactive / analysis*
  • Air Pollution, Indoor / analysis*
  • Air Pollution, Indoor / statistics & numerical data
  • Housing / statistics & numerical data
  • Humans
  • Italy
  • Radiation Exposure / analysis*
  • Radiation Monitoring
  • Radon / analysis*

Substances

  • Air Pollutants, Radioactive
  • Radon