The FIRST large-scale mapping of radon concentration in soil gas and water in Romania

B Burghele; A Ţenter; A Cucoş; T Dicu; M Moldovan; B Papp; K Szacsvai; T Neda; L Suciu; A Lupulescu; C Maloş; Ş Florică; C Baciu; C Sainz

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.342

The FIRST large-scale mapping of radon concentration in soil gas and water in Romania

Sci Total Environ. 2019 Jun 15:669:887-892. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.342. Epub 2019 Feb 22.

Authors

B Burghele¹, A Ţenter², A Cucoş¹, T Dicu¹, M Moldovan¹, B Papp¹, K Szacsvai³, T Neda⁴, L Suciu⁵, A Lupulescu¹, C Maloş¹, Ş Florică⁶, C Baciu¹, C Sainz⁷

Affiliations

¹ "Constantin Cosma" Radon Laboratory (LiRaCC), Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, "Babeş-Bolyai" University, s. no. 30, 400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
² "Constantin Cosma" Radon Laboratory (LiRaCC), Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, "Babeş-Bolyai" University, s. no. 30, 400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Electronic address: ancuta.tenter@ubbcluj.ro.
³ "Constantin Cosma" Radon Laboratory (LiRaCC), Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, "Babeş-Bolyai" University, s. no. 30, 400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Sapientia University, Faculty of Sciences and Arts, Calea Turzii, Street no. 4, 400193 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
⁴ Sapientia University, Faculty of Sciences and Arts, Calea Turzii, Street no. 4, 400193 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
⁵ I.C.P.E. BISTRITA SA, Parcului street no. 7C, Bistriţa, Romania.
⁶ "Constantin Cosma" Radon Laboratory (LiRaCC), Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, "Babeş-Bolyai" University, s. no. 30, 400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Faculty of Biology and Geology, Department of Geology, "Babeş-Bolyai" University, Mihail Kogalniceanu Street, no. 1, 400084 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
⁷ "Constantin Cosma" Radon Laboratory (LiRaCC), Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, "Babeş-Bolyai" University, s. no. 30, 400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Department of Medical Physics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cantabria, c/ Herrera Oria s/n, 39011 Santander, Spain.

PMID: 30897444
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.342

Abstract

In the framework of the last Council Directive 2013/59 (Euratom, 2014) laying down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionizing radiation, the problem of radon was assumed in Romania at national level by responsible authorities through the design and development of a National Radon Action Plan and an adequate legislation (HG nr. 526/2018). In order to identify radon risk areas, however, it is necessary to perform systematic radon measurements in different environmental media (soil gas, water, indoor air) and to map the results. This paper presents an atlas of up-to-date radon in soil and water levels for central and western part of Romania. The radon in soil map includes data from 2564 measurements carried out on-site, using Luk3C radon detector. The Luk-VR system was used to measure radon activity concentration from 2452 samples of drinking water. The average radon activity concentration was 29.3 kBq m^-3 for soil gas, respectively 9.8 Bq l^-1 for water dissolved air. Mapping of radon can be a useful tool to implement radon policies at both the national and local levels, defining priority areas for further study when land-use decisions must be made.

Keywords: Geogenic radon; Map; Radon in soil; Radon in water.