Indoor radon concentration measurements in houses of selected communities in Delta Central of Delta State

Abstract

Radon is a naturally occurring and radioactive gas having no colour, odour or taste and found in indoor environment. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that radon is the major cause of lung cancer after smoking. This fact is the reason why scientists, researchers and governments have channeled their study and resources to the health effects of human exposure to radon gas. This study measured the indoor-environment radon gas in selected communities in Delta Central of Delta State.
This was done using a Corentium Radon detector of model type; BQM-Digital. Results show that the average indoor radon concentration measured varies from 0 to 49.85 Bqm-3 with a mean of 19.71 Bqm3 . The annual effective dose to lungs (ET) and whole body (HT) calculated from these indoor measurements varies from 0 to 1.82 mSvy-1 and 0 to 15.2 mSvy-1, respectively with the mean values as 0.57 and 4.9 mSvy-1. The Excess Lifetime Cancer Risk (ELCR) calculated varied from 0 to 6 7.95 10  with a mean value of 5.54×10-6. Each of these values is less than the internationally recommended value. This is an indication that occupants of these selected houses are not presently under any radiological threat arising from exposure to indoor radon.