Radon Activity Concentrations in Natural Hot Spring Water: Dose Assessment and Health Perspective

Abstract

The world community has long used natural hot springs for tourist and medicinal purposes. In Indonesia, the province of West Java, which is naturally surrounded by volcanoes, is the main destination for hot spring tourism. This paper is the first report on radon measurements in tourism natural hot spring water in Indonesia as part of radiation protection for public health. The purpose of this paper is to study the contribution of radon doses from natural hot spring water and thereby facilitate radiation protection for public health. A total of 18 water samples were measured with an electrostatic collection type radon monitor (RAD7, Durridge Co., USA). The concentration of radon in natural hot spring water samples in the West Java region, Indonesia ranges from 0.26 to 31 Bq L−1. An estimate of the annual effective dose in the natural hot spring water area ranges from 0.51 to 0.71 mSv with a mean of 0.60 mSv for workers. Meanwhile, the annual effective dose for the public ranges from 0.10 to 0.14 mSv with an average of 0.12 mSv. This value is within the range of the average committed effective dose from inhalation and terrestrial radiation for the general public, 1.7 mSv annually.

Comprehensive exposure assessments from the viewpoint of health in a unique high natural background radiation area, Mamuju, Indonesia

“…Several drinking water samples have radon concentrations exceeding 100 Bq L −1 . The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) proposed a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for radon in drinking water of 11 Bq L −1 and an alternative maximum contaminant level (AMCL) of 148 Bq L −1 29 , 30 . On the other hand, the European Union (EU) recommended that the reference level for 222 Rn in drinking water is 100 Bq L −1 31 .…”

Effects of Storage Time and Pre-Etching Treatment of CR-39 Detectors on Their Response to Alpha Radiation Exposure

“…When SSNTD CR-39 detectors are to be used for radon monitoring, the following recommendations were concluded to be important: (1) to check the track density for new and old CR-39 detectors due to different material compositions; and (2) to check the effects of pre-etching treatments when comparing or interpreting experimental results in different studies.…”

“…The track sensitivity of detectors was obtained from geometrical parameters of each detector using the formula of Equation (1). The tendency of sensitivities can be attributed to the physical nature of track formation and overetched tracks.…”

“…Since the discovery of radon ( 222 Rn) by Friedrich Ernst Dorn, a German chemist, in 1900, many measurement methods and techniques have been developed for it. Researchers are interested not only in measuring 222 Rn gas itself, but also its other isotopes, such as 220 Rn (known as thoron) decay products because of their greater contributions to dose that comes from natural background radiation in some high background radiation areas (HBRA) [1].…”

Impact of Environmental Radiation on the Incidence of Cancer and Birth Defects in Regions with High Natural Radioactivity

“…A detailed study on the radiation exposure pathways in that area showed that, to such total effective dose, the radionuclide inhalation ( 222 Rn and 220 Rn isotopes) contributed with 70%, the ambient gamma radiation from radionuclides in the ground contributed with 29%, the cosmic radiation contributed with 0.5%, and the ingestion of local foods and water contributed with 0.5% [37]. Another study for an HBRA in Mamuju, Indonesia, reported a similar percent contribution of exposure pathways and radon isotopes to the average effective dose for inhabitants, determined at 32 mSv y −1 (range 17-155 mSv y −1 ) [88]. Detailed studies such as these ones are missing for most of the HBRAs referred above.…”