The accumulation and behavior of radon in the home, school, preschool and other buildings during the summer

---

The accumulation and behavior of radon in the home, school, preschool and other buildings during the summer

and winter are investigated and an assessment is made of the dose load on the residents of the settlements

located next to the uranium wastes. Methods of active and passive measurement of the volume activity of radon

were used to accomplish this. The results of measurements of the radon activity in rooms are presented, the

radon dose loads on the population are evaluated, and the radon-dangerous sections are indicated.

A large quantity of radioactive tailings and wastes has been formed as a result of the production and reprocessing of

uranium ores in the south-eastern Uzbekistan (Chatkalo-Kuraminskii ridge). These uranium wastes are the main radiation-

destabilizing factor for the environment and the adjoining populated points. At present, they are under the jurisdiction of the

local government agencies. In all objects, the portals to the mining wastes have been cemented; some portals have been recul-

tivated. However, with time the neutral cover of the wastes breaks down as a result of natural factors and as a result of human

activity (breakdown of stone and concrete barriers of the wastes and the use of radioactive wastes as building materials). The

wastes and their materials are the main source of the increased volume activity in the surrounding outdoor and indoor air and

pose a hazard to public health [1, 2]. For this reason, it is important to study and develop methods for monitoring radon in the

environment, determine the sources of air and their dose load on the public, and develop radiological-hygienic certification.

The objectives of the present work are to investigate the accumulation and behavior of radon in homes, schools,

preschool and other institutions during the summer and winter and to evaluate the dose load for the people living the settle-

ments located next to uranium wastes. Modern methods of measuring the 

γ

rays emitted in a medium and the volume activ-

ity of radon in the atmosphere at ground level and in populate points located near these wastes were used to attain these objec-

tives. The research work was performed from 2006 to 2008 in the settlements of Yangiabal, Krasnogorsk, and Chorkesar with

populations of 530, 10000, and 2060 people, respectively.

The volume activity of the radon was measured by two methods – active and passive. The active method uses pump-

ing, accumulation of air quickly in a closed volume, and passage of air through a filter followed by changing the activity of

daughter products of decay or direct measurement of the activity of the 

222

Rn which has been filtered out. Such measurements

are convenient and helpful for studying radon concentration variations which occur during a relatively short period of time.

The apparatus RRA-01M (Russia) and PRM-145 (Slovenia) were used for active measurements. The operation of RRA-01M

is based on the detection of 

α

-radiation 

218

Po with electrostatic deposition of the ionized daughter products of radon decay

on the surface of a semiconductor detector in the measurement chamber. The PRM-15 apparatus consists of several tens of

scintillation cells into which air samples are introduced and the scintillation of 

218

Po 

α

-particles are then detected.

The passive methods employ nuclear solid-date track detectors, and the medium where the measurements are per-

formed is not perturbed. These measurements are prolonged (30–90 or more days) and they are convenient for determining

Atomic Energy, Vol. 109, No. 5, March, 2011 (Russian Original Vol. 109, No. 5, November, 2010)

UDC 539.16:551.577.7

Institute of Nuclear Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Translated

from Atomnaya Énergiya, Vol. 109, No. 5, pp. 272–274, November, 2010. Original article submitted March 3, 2010.

1063-4258/11/10905-0333

©

2011 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.

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