Stojanovska, Zdenka and Curguz, Zoran and Kolarz, P. and Zunic, Zora S. and Boev, Ivan and Boev, Blazo (2020) The indoor radon and thoron concentrations in schools of Skopje (Republic of North Macedonia) and Banja Luka (Republic of Srpska) cities measured by Raduet detectors. Contemporary Materials, 1 (XI). pp. 20-26. ISSN 19868669
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Abstract
Radon (222Rn) and thoron (220Rn) are natural radioactive gases, generated
in the terrestrial materials. They are the main sources of public exposure to ionising radiation
in any of indoor environment worldwide. Differences in half-lives of 222Rn (T1/2 = 3.8 d) and
220Rn (T1/2 = 55.6 s) lead to its different indoor behavior. Several studies of indoor 222Rn and
220Rn in Northern Macedonia have been performed, starting with measurements in dwellings
in 2008 and continuing with measurements in schools during 2012. The surveys in the
Republic of Srpska began later (in 2011) with the simultaneous 222Rn and 220Rn
measurements in the dwellings and schools of Banja Luka cities. This paper, as a result of
our cooperation, summarizes the results and general conclusions obtained from 222Rn and
220Rn measurements in schools of capitals. In both cities, the measurements were made using
Raduet - nuclear track detectors; deployed at distances: >0.5m (Skopje) and 0.2m (Banja
Luka); and exposed in a period: March 2012 - May 2012 (Skopje) and April 2011 - May 2012
(Banja Luka). Results for 222Rn and 220Rn concentrations in both cities have a log-normal
distribution. The 222Rn geometric mean value of 71 Bq/m3
in Skopje is higher than in Banja
Luka city (GM = 50 Bq/m3
). Among different radon potential in the cities, this difference
could be related to the different exposure time of detectors. Furthermore, the dispersion of
the 222Rn results in each city expressed through geometric standard deviation is relatively
low: GSD = 2.13 (Skopje) and GSD = 2.11 (Banja Luka) indicating relatively homogeneous
data sets. The 220Rn concentrations in Banja Luka (GM = 51 Bq/m3
) were higher than in
Skopje (GM = 11 Bq/m3
). It is obvious that in the case of 220Rn, the exposure period did not
play a significant role. One of the reasons for this difference could be the position of the
detectors as well as the different building materials in the schools. On the contrary, the
dispersion of the 220Rn results in Skopje (GSD = 3.38) was greater than in Banja Luka (GSD
= 2.07).
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | Natural sciences > Physical sciences |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Medical Science |
| Depositing User: | Zdenka Stojanovska |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Jul 2020 07:09 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Jul 2020 07:09 |
| URI: | https://eprints.ugd.edu.mk/id/eprint/24192 |
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