Indoor radon measurement in buildings of a university campus in central Iran and estimation of its effective dose and health risk assessment

Hakimeh Teiri; Shahrokh Nazmara; Ali Abdolahnejad; Yaghoub Hajizadeh; Mohammad Mehdi Amin

doi:10.1007/s40201-021-00720-y

Indoor radon measurement in buildings of a university campus in central Iran and estimation of its effective dose and health risk assessment

J Environ Health Sci Eng. 2021 Aug 28;19(2):1643-1652. doi: 10.1007/s40201-021-00720-y. eCollection 2021 Dec.

Authors

Hakimeh Teiri^{1

2}, Shahrokh Nazmara³, Ali Abdolahnejad⁴, Yaghoub Hajizadeh¹, Mohammad Mehdi Amin¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Environment Research Center, Research Institute for Primordial Prevention of Non-Communicable Disease, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
² Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
³ Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁴ Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Maragheh University of Medical Sciences, Maragheh, Iran.

Abstract

Indoor radon is a serious health concern and contributes about 10% of deaths from lung cancer in the USA and Europe. In this study, radon and thoron levels of 20 multi-floor buildings on the campus of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences were measured in cold and hot seasons of a year. SARAD- RTM1688 radon and thoron monitor was used for measurement. The annual effective dose of radon exposure was also estimated for residences on the campus. The results showed that radon concentration was below the WHO guideline (100 Bq m^{- 3}) in most of the buildings. The ranges of radon were from 3 ± 10% to 322 ± 15% Bq m^{- 3} in winter and from below the detectable level to 145 ± 8% Bq m^{- 3} in summer. Mostly, the radon concentration in the basement or ground floors was higher than upper floors, however, exceptions were observed in some locations. For thoron, no special trends were observed, and in the majority of buildings, its concentration was below the detectable level. However, in a few locations besides radon, thoron was also measured at a high level during both seasons. The average annual effective dose via radon exposure was estimated to be 0.261 ± 0.339 mSv y^{- 1}. The mean excess lung cancer risk (ELCR) was estimated to be 0.10%. It was concluded that indoor air ventilation, buildings' flooring and construction materials, along with the geological structure of the ground could be the factors influencing the radon concentration inside the buildings. Thus, some applicable radon prevention and mitigation techniques were suggested.

Keywords: Campus; Effective dose; Exposure; GIS mapping; Indoor air; Radon concentration.