Simultaneous measurements of radon, thoron and their progeny for inhalation dose assessment in indoors of Srinagar, J&K, India.

A variety of toxins are known to affect indoor air quality, thereby affecting the health of the inhabitants of that region. One such natural contaminant is radon, which is a dense, colourless, odourless and inert gas. As per BEIR-VI report (Chauhan and Chauhan in J Environ Radioact, 2015. 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2015.03.009), Radon alone contributes to more than 50% of the total natural background radiation and is the second leading element causing lung cancer after smoking. Therefore, its quantification is vital to assess any risk to human health. In order to assess health risks, a recently developed LR-115 detector based technique was employed for time-integrated passive measurements of radon, thoron and their progeny concentrations. The annual average radon concentration was found to be 35.6 Bq m−3 and thus lies well below the global average of 40 Bq m−3. However, thoron concentration exceeded the global average value of 10 Bq m−3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]