engleski

An overview of radon measurements in Croatia

Radon concentration in Croatian environment has been monitored for the past 20 years. Numerous measurements of indoor radon in dwellings, schools and kindergartens as well as at local spas were performed mainly in the area of Osijek but also in Zagreb. A year-long nationwide representative survey was started at the end of 2003 in order to achieve the following objectives: (i) to determine the distribution of the annual indoor radon concentrations in Croatia with the identification of the radon prone areas ; (ii) to estimate the percentage of dwellings where radon concentration exceeded certain reference values (200 or 400 Bq/m3) so as to choose the future Croatian action level. These indoor radon measurements, in almost 800 hundred randomly selected homes, were performed by the LR-115 track etch detectors. The obtained values of arithmetic means of radon concentrations in each of 20 counties were in the range from 33 to 198 Bq/m3, while the arithmetic and geometric means for Croatia were 68 and 50 Bq/m3, respectively. The percentage of dwellings with concentrations above 400 Bq/m3 was 1.8 %. Radon concentrations in soil gas, at the depths of 0.5 m and 1 m, were measured by passive LR-115 track etch detectors since 1998 at several locations and an investigation of the associations between radon concentrations in soil and earthquakes was carried out. Preliminary measurements of radon in soil gas using AlphaGUARD measuring system at national level started at the end of 2005 and are still on going. The association between levels of indoor radon and radon in soil gas was found for northern part of Croatian territory (the geological structures are mainly comprised of sedimentary rocks). We are planning to continue indoor radon measurements at national level and cover each municipality with special respect to radon prone areas. The measurement protocols and subsequent data analysis will be harmonized with proposals at the European level.

Indoor radon ; radon in soil gas ; track etch detectors LR-115 II

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