Kucukomeroglu, B.; Ozturk, E.; Damla, N.; Celik, N.; Duran, S. Uzun; Cevik, U.; Taskin, H.; Albayrak, N.

Indoor radon and soil radioactivity levels were determined for Erzincan province in Turkey. Indoor radon concentrations were determined in 89 dwellings using CR-39 passive Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors (SSNTDs) for four seasons. The mean annual 222Rn activity concentration was found to be 119 Bq.m-'3. In the winter season, indoor radon concentrations showed the highest values while the lowest values were observed in the summer season. A model was used to predict the number of lung cancer incidences due to inhalation of radon. The findings have indicated that radon is responsible for 13% of lung cancer incidences occurring in the Erzincan province. Since indoor radon concentration correlates with 226Ra content in soil beneath the dwellings, soil samples were collected near the houses where indoor radon measurements were performed in order to seek a correlation. The 226Ra, 232Th, 40K and 137Cs activity concentration values were 52, 26, 649 and 9 Bq.kg-'1, respectively. The annual effective dose due to naturally occurring radionuclides was around 82 μSv.y-'1 which is higher than the world average value of 70 μSv.y-'1. The results of the present study are expected to be a useful baseline data for future studies.

Damla, N.; Cevik, U.; Kobya, A. I.; Celik, A.; Celik, N.; Yildirim, I.

In this study the distribution of natural radionuclides ((226)Ra, (232)Th, (40)K) in brick and roofing tile samples commonly used as building materials in Turkey was measured by using gamma spectrometry. The activity concentrations, radium equivalent activities (Ra(eq)), representative level index, indoor absorbed dose rate in air values and annual effective dose due to the intake of the above-mentioned radionuclides in the brick and roofing tile samples were estimated to assess the radiation hazard for people living in dwellings made of the materials studied. The measured average activity concentrations of (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K were 34 +/- 14, 34 +/- 13 and 462 +/- 175 Bq.kg(-1), respectively, for brick samples. For roofing tile, the average activity concentrations of (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K were measured to be 34 +/- 14, 33 +/- 12 and 429 +/- 161 Bq.kg(-1), respectively. The concentrations for these natural radionuclides were compared with the reported data of other countries. The Ra(eq) values of all samples were lower than the limit of 370 Bq.kg(-1), equivalent to a gamma dose of 1.5 mSv.a(-1) recommended by OECD. This study shows that the measured brick and roofing tile samples do not pose any significant source of radiation hazard and are safe to be used as building materials. Moreover, the experimental mass attenuation coefficients (mu/rho) of brick and roofing tile samples were determined in the energy range 80-1332 keV using the gamma ray transmission method. The experimental mass attenuation coefficients were compared with theoretical values obtained using XCOM. It was found that the computed values and the experimental results of this work are in good agreement with those reported in the literature. The chemical compositions and structural analysis (XRD) of the brick and roofing tile samples are also presented. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.