Radon and radium concentrations in water from Transylvania and the assessment of the resulting dose
Pages 69-76
M. Moldovan, C. Cosma, Z. Horvath, T. Sferle
Abstract. The results present here are from a survey carried out in the Transylvania region in Romania for radon and radium concentrations in natural waters (surface, springs, wells, mineral water). The radon concentration is equal to the radium concentration, this happens after a period of 30 days when radium can be considered in secular equilibrium with radon. The measurements were made using the LUK-VR system that is based on radon gas measurement with Lucas cell, specially adapted for radon in water measurement. The results show that the radon concentrations are within the range of 0,5 – 90,7Bq/l with an average value of 16,3Bq/l for all types of water covered within this survey. For the radium concentration ranged from 0,5mBq/l to 397mBq/l. The estimated committed effective dose of different age groups of radon and radium from drinking 1l day–1 different type of water, using the ingestion dose conversion coefficients from the IAEA (1995) and WHO (1993) ranged from 0,017mSvy-1 to 0,855mSvy-1 to radon and ranged from 0,019mSvy-1 to 0,242mSvy-1 to radium. The expected doses from consumption of water in Romania are insignificant compared with other natural sources of radiation (such as radon in indoor air, 40K, etc.).