Population doses due to indoor gamma radiation exposure in Ramsar

Authors

10.22052/5.4.35

Abstract

The coastal area of ​​Ramsar in northern of Iran located in the province of Mazandaran has been known as the highest levels of natural radiation background in the world. The background radiation is mainly due to the presence of radioactive isotopes of the radium element and its decay products, which is brought to the surface by hot springs. In this study, the indoor gamma dose rate in Ramsar was directly measured and the public annual effective dose due to indoor gamma radiation was calculated. To measure the gamma dose rate, a portable gamma spectrometer with sodium iodide detector (Na I) was used. 100 houses are randomly selected and the measurements were carried out at one meter height above the ground surface in each place, which was mostly occupied by people in each house. The public annual effective dose due to indoor gamma exposure was calculated. The maximum, minimum, and average dose rates were 222 nSv h-1, 44 nSv h-1 and 94 nSv h-1, respectively. The highest, lowest, and average public annual effective dose of Ramsar residents due to indoor gamma exposure were 1.55, 0.31 and 0.66 mSv, respectively. The results of this study indicate that average of the public annual effective dose of Ramsar people due to indoor gamma exposure is equal to 0.66 mSv and it is approximately 1.6 times greater than the worldwide average exposure to indoor gamma radiation reported by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (0.41 mSv).  In addition, it is not significantly different from the other reported results (average of 0.7 mSv) for the homes in normal radiation background areas in Ramsar.
 

Keywords

References

[1] National Council on Radiation Protection. Exposure of the population in the United States and Canada from Natural Background Radiation. NCRP No. 94 (1992). [2] National Council on Radiation Protection. Ionizing Radiation Exposure of the Population of the United States. NCRP No. 160 (2009). [3] G. Campos Venuti, S. Colili, A. Grisianti, G. Grisanti, G. Monteleone, S. Risica, G. Gobbi, M.P. Leogrande, A. Antonini, and R. Borio. Indoor exposure in a region of Central Italy. Radiat. Prot. Dos. 7(1984) 271–274. [4] K. Saito, T. Sakamoto, M. Nagaoka, M. Tsusumi and S. Moriuchi. Measurement of gamma dose rates in dwellings in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Radiat. Prot. Dosim. 69(1) (1997) 61–67. [5] K.N. Yu, Z.J. Guan, M.J. Stokes and E.C.M. Young. The assessment of the natural radiation dose committed to the Hong Kong people. J. Environ. Radioact. 17(1992)31–48. [6] United Nations. Sources and effects of ionizing radiation. United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. (UNSCEAR), United Nations Publications (1993). [7] United Nations. Exposures from natural radiation sources. United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), 2000 Report to the General Assembly, V. 1, Annex B. UN. (2000). [8] M. Sohrabi. The state-of-the-art on worldwide studies in some environments with elevated naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM). Appl. Radiat. Isotopes 49(1998) 169–188. [9] J. Hendry, S.L. Simon, A. Wojcik, M. Sohrabi, W. Burkart, E. Cardis, D. Laurier, M. Tirmarche and I. Hayata. Human exposure to high natural background radiation: what can it teach us about radiation risks? J. Radio. Prot. 29(2009) A29–A42. [10] N. Rostampour, T. Almasi, M. Rostampour, M. Mohammadi, KG. Sani, HR. Khosravi. An investigation of gamma background radiation in Hamadan province, Iran. Radiat Prot Dosimetry 43(2012) 438. [11] MR. Abdolrahimi. Measurement of annually doses from environmental gamma radiation in Khorasan Provinc. M.S.c. thesis,Mashhad University of Medical Scienses, Mashhad (2002). [12] T.S.M.T. Bahreyni and M. yarahmadi. "Comparison of Indoor and outdoor dose rates from Environmental Gamma radiation in Kurdistan Province. Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences 16 (2009) 255-262. [13] M. Gholami, S. Mirzaei and A. Jomehzadeh. Gamma background radiation measurement in Lorestan province, Iran. Iranian Journal of Radiation Research 9(2011) 89-93. [14] F. Saghatchi, M. Salouti and A. Eslami. Assessment of annual effective dose due to natural gamma radiation in Zanjan (Iran). Radiat Prot Dosimetry 132(2008) 346. [15] M. Sohrabi, N. Alirezazadeh and H. Tajik Ahmadi. A survey of 222 Rn concentrations in domestic water sup- plies in Iran. Health Phys. 75(1998) 417–421. [16] M. Sohrabi, M.M. Beitollahi, S. Hafezi and M. Assefi. Public exposure from 226 Ra in drinking water supplies of Iran. Health Phys. 77(2) (1999) 150–154. [17] M. Sohrabi and A.R. Solaymanian. Indoor radon level measurements in some regions of Iran. Nucl. Tracks Radiat.Meas. 15, Nos. 1–4(1988) 613–616. [18] M.R. Kardan, N. Fathabadi, A. Attarilar, M.T. Esmaeili, M. Karimi, A. Najafi and S.S. Hosseini. A national survey of natural radionuclides in soils and terrestrial radiation exposure in Iran. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity (2017)168-176. [19] M. Sohrabi and A.R. Esmaili. New public dose assessment of elevated natural radiation areas of Ramsar (Iran) for epidemiological studies. Int. Cong. Ser.1225 (2002) 15-24. [20] M. Ghiassi-nejad, S.M.J. Mortazavi, J.R. Cameron, A. Niroomand-rad and P.A. Karam. Very high background radiation areas of Ramsar, Iran: preliminary biological studies. Health Phys. 82 (1) (2002) 87-93. [21] M. Ghiassi - Nejad, M.M. Beitolahi, N. Fallahian and M. Saghirzade. New finding in very high natural radon area at Ramsar, Iran. International Congress Series 1276 (2005). [22] E. Bavarnegin , N. Fathabadi, M. Vahabi Moghaddama, M. Vasheghani Farahani, M. Moradi and A. Babakhni "Radon exhalation rate and natural radionuclide content in building materials of high background areas of Ramsar, Iran. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 117(2013) 36-40.
Journal of Radiation Safety and Measurement
Volume 6, Issue 4 - Serial Number 20
December 2017
Pages 35-42

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics