Wednesday, December 19, 2012

IAC2012, Shah Alam



INDOOR AND OUTDOOR RADON-222 CONCENTRATION AT VARIOUS LOCATIONS IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA[1]

Ahmad Saat1, Zaini Hamzah2

1INTEC Education College
Universiti Teknologi MARA
Kampus  Seksyen 17
40200 SHAH ALAM.

2Faculty of Applied Sciences
Universiti Teknologi MARA
40450 SHAH ALAM.

e-mail: ahmad183@salam.uitm.edu.my


ABSTRACT
Radon is the only radionuclide that naturally in gaseous form at room temperature. Being a gas it has greater mobility, and able to pass through small openings and blended together with atmospheric air. The main sources of radon are uranium and thorium that decay through chains that contained radon. Radon decays by alpha particle emission into a number of progenies before reaching stability. These progenies also decay by high energy alpha particles emissions. Radon when inhaled is considered as carcinogenic, and has been blamed as the second most important causes of lung cancer, after smoking. In Malaysia study and information on radon are considered as something “new” to the public. The present study determines the indoor and outdoor radon-222 concentration at various representative locations in Peninsular Malaysia, by using continuous radon monitor as well as CR-39 solid state nuclear track detector (SSNTD). The locations include major cities, towns, tin mining areas, National Park, residential complex, university campus and new township. Results of the study showed that the indoor concentrations at the majority of locations are below the USEPA Action Limit of 148 Becquerel per cubic meter. However in some locations like former tin mining areas the limit is surpassed. The outdoor radon-222 concentration depends very much on the geological formations of the area. Some studied locations were found to have outdoor concentration of higher than the world’s outdoor average of 14.8 Becquerel per cubic meter. Mitigation steps are recommended for houses having concentration higher than the Action Limit.
Keywords: radon measurements, SSNTD, radon mitigation






[1] Presented at INTEC Academic Conference 2012 (IAC2012), 19 Dec., Shah Alam

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