Open AccessNon‐invasive monitoring of the relation between building materials and indoor radon pollution
Author(s) -
Lamonaca Francesco,
Vasile Monica,
Nastro Alfonso
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
iet science, measurement and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.418
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1751-8830
pISSN - 1751-8822
DOI - 10.1049/iet-smt.2013.0141
Subject(s) - radon , nuclear track , environmental science , pollution , radionuclide , detector , gamma ray spectrometry , work (physics) , engineering , radiochemistry , nuclear physics , physics , chemistry , mechanical engineering , ecology , biology , electrical engineering
In this work, the relation between building materials and radon indoor pollution is evaluated. The relation is performed by non‐invasive monitoring of buildings made of different materials. The work is part of a wider monitoring in progress in the Calabria Region (Southern Italy). The area under investigation is San Giovanni in Fiore (CS) located in the Sila upland plain. An annual non‐invasive monitoring is carried out on many buildings of the Sila area, with reference to their different building materials. A nuclear track detector has been used (Solid State Nuclear Track Detector). The results obtained underline that the buildings made of local granite have greater indoor radon concentrations. The local granitic rocks, representative of the geological area, have been analysed by gamma spectrometry involving a Canberra system HPGe fixed detector cooled by liquid nitrogen high radio‐emission values of standard radionuclides such as 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K.