US EPA

8779032 

Journal Article 

Radiological risk assessment to the public due to the presence of radon in water of Barnala district, Punjab, India 

Rani, S; Kansal, S; Singla, A; Mehra, R 

2021 

Yes 

Environmental Geochemistry and Health
ISSN: 0269-4042
EISSN: 1573-2983 

English 

34173905 

10.1007/s10653-021-01012-y 

WOS:000666845000001 

Various research studies have shown that exposure to radon gas is a cause of concern for health effects to the public. The present work has been carried out for the radiological risk assessment to the public due to the presence of radon isotopes in drinking water of Barnala district of Punjab, India, for the first time using scintillation-based radiation detector. A total of 100 samples were collected from different sources of water (canal and underground water) from 25 villages on grid pattern of 6 x 6 km(2) in the study area for uniform mapping. In situ measurements were carried out to find out Rn-222 concentration in water samples. The measured values have been found to vary from 0.17 +/- 0.01 to 9.84 +/- 0.59 BqL(-1) with an average value of 3.37 +/- 0.29 BqL(-1), which is well below the recommended limit of 100 BqL(-1)(WHO 2004). The annual effective dose due to ingestion and inhalation of radon has also been calculated for various age groups like infants, children and adults to understand the age-wise dose distribution. The calculated values suggest that there is no significant health risk to the general public from radon in water. 

Radon; Smart RnDuo; Radiological risk; Age-wise ingestion and inhalation dose; LUNG-CANCER; RESIDENTIAL RADON; GROUNDWATER; URANIUM