Indoor radon survey in Whitehorse, Canada, and dose assessment
Abstract Radon-222 ( 222 Rn) and its decay products are the primary sources of a population’s exposure to background ionizing radiation. Radon decay products are the leading cause of lung cancer for non-smokers and the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking for smokers. A community-driven...
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crioppubl:10.1088/1361-6498/acb82a 2024-09-15T18:40:44+00:00 Indoor radon survey in Whitehorse, Canada, and dose assessment Hansen, Violeta Sabo, Angela Korn, Juergen MacLean, Douglas Rigét, Frank Farsø Clausen, Daniel Spelling Cubley, Joel 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6498/acb82a https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6498/acb82a https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6498/acb82a/pdf unknown IOP Publishing https://iopscience.iop.org/page/copyright https://iopscience.iop.org/info/page/text-and-data-mining Journal of Radiological Protection volume 43, issue 1, page 011515 ISSN 0952-4746 1361-6498 journal-article 2023 crioppubl https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6498/acb82a 2024-07-15T04:15:27Z Abstract Radon-222 ( 222 Rn) and its decay products are the primary sources of a population’s exposure to background ionizing radiation. Radon decay products are the leading cause of lung cancer for non-smokers and the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking for smokers. A community-driven long-term radon survey was completed in 232 residential homes in different subdivisions of Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon, during the heating season from November to April in 2016–2017 and in 2017–2018. Radon concentrations were measured in living rooms and bedrooms on ground floors. The arithmetic and geometric means of indoor radon activity concentrations in different subdivisions of Whitehorse ranged from 52 ± 0.6 Bq m −3 and 37 ± 2.3 Bq m −3 in the Downtown area of Whitehorse to 993.0 ± 55.0 Bq m −3 and 726.2 ± 2.4 Bq m −3 in Wolf Creek. Underlying geology and glacial surfaces may partly explain these variations of indoor radon concentrations in subdivisions of Whitehorse. A total of 78 homes (34.0%) had radon concentrations higher than 100 Bq m −3 , 47 homes (20.5%) had concentrations higher than 200 Bq m −3 and 33 homes (14.4%) had concentrations higher than 300 Bq m −3 . The indoor radon contribution to the annual effective inhalation dose to residents ranged from 3.0 mSv in the Downtown area to 51.0 mSv in Wolf Creek. The estimated annual average dose to adults in Whitehorse, Yukon, is higher than the world’s average annual effective dose of 1.3 mSv due to the inhalation of indoor radon. The annual radon inhalation effective dose was assessed using radon measurements taken during winter; hence the assessed dose may be overestimated. Cost-efficient mitigation methods are available to reduce radon in existing buildings and to prevent radon entry into new buildings. Article in Journal/Newspaper Whitehorse Yukon IOP Publishing Journal of Radiological Protection |
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Abstract Radon-222 ( 222 Rn) and its decay products are the primary sources of a population’s exposure to background ionizing radiation. Radon decay products are the leading cause of lung cancer for non-smokers and the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking for smokers. A community-driven long-term radon survey was completed in 232 residential homes in different subdivisions of Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon, during the heating season from November to April in 2016–2017 and in 2017–2018. Radon concentrations were measured in living rooms and bedrooms on ground floors. The arithmetic and geometric means of indoor radon activity concentrations in different subdivisions of Whitehorse ranged from 52 ± 0.6 Bq m −3 and 37 ± 2.3 Bq m −3 in the Downtown area of Whitehorse to 993.0 ± 55.0 Bq m −3 and 726.2 ± 2.4 Bq m −3 in Wolf Creek. Underlying geology and glacial surfaces may partly explain these variations of indoor radon concentrations in subdivisions of Whitehorse. A total of 78 homes (34.0%) had radon concentrations higher than 100 Bq m −3 , 47 homes (20.5%) had concentrations higher than 200 Bq m −3 and 33 homes (14.4%) had concentrations higher than 300 Bq m −3 . The indoor radon contribution to the annual effective inhalation dose to residents ranged from 3.0 mSv in the Downtown area to 51.0 mSv in Wolf Creek. The estimated annual average dose to adults in Whitehorse, Yukon, is higher than the world’s average annual effective dose of 1.3 mSv due to the inhalation of indoor radon. The annual radon inhalation effective dose was assessed using radon measurements taken during winter; hence the assessed dose may be overestimated. Cost-efficient mitigation methods are available to reduce radon in existing buildings and to prevent radon entry into new buildings. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hansen, Violeta Sabo, Angela Korn, Juergen MacLean, Douglas Rigét, Frank Farsø Clausen, Daniel Spelling Cubley, Joel |
spellingShingle |
Hansen, Violeta Sabo, Angela Korn, Juergen MacLean, Douglas Rigét, Frank Farsø Clausen, Daniel Spelling Cubley, Joel Indoor radon survey in Whitehorse, Canada, and dose assessment |
author_facet |
Hansen, Violeta Sabo, Angela Korn, Juergen MacLean, Douglas Rigét, Frank Farsø Clausen, Daniel Spelling Cubley, Joel |
author_sort |
Hansen, Violeta |
title |
Indoor radon survey in Whitehorse, Canada, and dose assessment |
title_short |
Indoor radon survey in Whitehorse, Canada, and dose assessment |
title_full |
Indoor radon survey in Whitehorse, Canada, and dose assessment |
title_fullStr |
Indoor radon survey in Whitehorse, Canada, and dose assessment |
title_full_unstemmed |
Indoor radon survey in Whitehorse, Canada, and dose assessment |
title_sort |
indoor radon survey in whitehorse, canada, and dose assessment |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6498/acb82a https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6498/acb82a https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6498/acb82a/pdf |
genre |
Whitehorse Yukon |
genre_facet |
Whitehorse Yukon |
op_source |
Journal of Radiological Protection volume 43, issue 1, page 011515 ISSN 0952-4746 1361-6498 |
op_rights |
https://iopscience.iop.org/page/copyright https://iopscience.iop.org/info/page/text-and-data-mining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6498/acb82a |
container_title |
Journal of Radiological Protection |
_version_ |
1810485127527006208 |