Measurement of Radon Concentration and Exhalation Rates from Marble and Granite Samples

Pages:87-89
Kapil Dev and G.S. Sharma1, R.S. Saini2, R.P. Chauhan and S.K. Chakarvarti3, Ravish Garg4 (Department of physics, B S A college Mathura U.P,1 Department of physics, University college, Kurukshetra2, Department of applied physics, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra3, Department of Biomedical Engineering, GJUST, Hisar4)

Natural materials such as sand, soil, stone, marbles, granites etc. containing traces of natural radioactivity of uranium 238U, radium 226Ra and potassium 40K could be used as building materials for construction of houses and buildings. These materials are the main sources of radon inside houses and which are mostly derived from rocks as a part of earth’s crust. It has been known that some construction materials are naturally more radioactive and removal of such materials from earth’s crust and their subsequent use in dwellings constitute an enhanced level of radioactivity. In the present investigation, radon concentration and exhalation rate through different marbles and granites has been estimated. Can technique using LR-115 type II plastic track detector has been used for measurements. After chemical etching track density of registered tracks is used to calculate the radon concentration and exhalation rates of radon using required formula. The radon concentration in marble samples varied from 612 Bq m-3 to 1180 Bq m-3 with an average of 841 ±51.4 Bq m-3 whereas it varied from 787 Bq m-3 to 1749 Bq m-3 in granite with an average of 1377 ± 129 Bq m-3. Based upon the data, the mass and the surface exhalation rates of radon emanated from them have also been calculated. Conclusion: The measurements indicate that radon concentration is higher in graphite than marble which is normal to some higher levels of radon concentration emanated from the samples collected from local market of Sirsa India. Purchase PDF
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