Naturally occurring radon assessment in Al-Rustumia wastewater treatment plant

Abstract

Wastewater samples were collected from Al-Rustumia wastewater treatment plant. The methodology which was used to measure radon activity levels was long-term air measurements with passive solid-state alpha track detector CR-39. The collected samples include wastewater before and after treatment for 5 months which started from September 2017 to January 2018. The results show that the average values of radon activity level for untreated and treated wastewater samples were 0.049 Bq L −1 and 0.036 Bq L −1 , respectively. Dissolved radon concentrations for the study samples were also calculated and their values were 1.270 Bq L −1 and 0.937 Bq L −1 , respectively. The calculated radon surface exhalation rate for wastewater samples before treatment was 0.048 Bq m −2 h −1 and after treatment was 0.035 Bq m −2 h −1. These values are lower than the maximum acceptable radon levels as given by United States Environmental Protection Agency. As well as, the results reveal that radon activity level decreases after treatment process implementation, and there are no considerable variations with different times of the year.