Soil Gas Radon Concentration in a Residential Area of Surrey (BC) Canada using LR-115 type II Plastic Detector

Hardev Singh Virk

Abstract

Soil gas radon concentration measurement studies have been carried out globally to determine the health hazard effects of radon due to its seepage in indoor air of dwellings. It is a useful parameter for geochemical exploration of Uranium and earthquake precursory studies. Most of the countries, including Canada, have designed building codes to reduce the radon entry indoors. The purpose of this study is to determine radon concentration in a residential area of Surrey, a fast-developing city of British Columbia (Canada). Plastic detector LR-115 Type II has been used for recording alpha tracks emanated by Radon and its progenies. Track counting was done after etching detector foils of 1.0 cm2with 2.5 N NaOH at 60°C for 90 minutes. Track density per unit area per day was determined using optical microscope at magnification of 100 and 400 M, respectively. Radon concentration in the soil gas was estimated using standard calibration factor of 0.0344 track.cm-2.d-1/Bq.m-3. The highest value of radon conc.639.5 ± 32.0 Bq/m3was recorded in summer during the month of August 2021 and the lowest value 436 ± 22 Bq/m3 was recorded during winter months of Feb.-March 2022. Soil gas radon values in Surrey are found to be lower than radon conc. of soil gas in many other countries.

Abstract

Keywords