Article

Measurement strategies for radon in indoor air of waterworks – a review

¹ BOKU, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Prueflabor fuer Umweltradioaktivitaet und Strahlenschutz, Low-Level Counting Laboratory Arsenal, Arsenal 214, 1030 Vienna, Austria
² BEV, Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying, Arltgasse 35, 1160 Vienna, Austria

^⁎ Corresponding author: michael.stietka@boku.ac.at

Received: 30 March 2016
Accepted: 1 February 2017

Abstract

In waterworks, ²²²Rn can exhale in large amounts through open water surfaces and cause a significant dose contribution. Annual effective doses up to 56 mSv y⁻¹ are documented in literature. This paper gives a literature review on studies associated with radon measurements in indoor air of waterworks − covering more than 800 waterworks in nine regions. Special attention is given to the assessment of the workers' effective dose, which can be done either on basis of the personal exposure or on basis of the local activity concentrations and the residence times. Especially at facilities with a water treatment, large diurnal variations depending on its operation mode were reported. The average ²²²Rn concentrations may considerably differ during the time spent of the staff and do not allow to determine the correct annual effective doses. Personal detectors avoid this problem and do not require the survey of the residence times, while the determination of the local exposure allows for the identification of spots with high activity concentrations to set dose reduction measures.