title: Simultaneous measurements of radon and thoron exhalation rates and comparison with values calculated by UNSCEAR equation.
abstract: We simultaneously measured radon and thoron exhalation rates in areas of weathered acid rocks in Japan to investigate the relationship between them and between measured and calculated radon exhalation rates. To calculate the radon exhalation rate, we used an equation proposed by UNSCEAR. Our analysis showed that both the radon and thoron exhalation rates measured at one location in a natural environment fluctuated widely, even within one day. We found a strong correlation between the radon and thoron exhalation rates. The measured radon exhalation rates tended to be lower than the calculated values: the mean ratio of the measured exhalation rate to the calculated rate was 0.65. We concluded that the UNSCEAR equation is applicable under a controlled environment (temperature, humidity, etc.), but not where there are artificial underground structures that may influence the transportation of radon in soil.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Research Center for Radiation Protection, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hosoda
authors.forename: Atsuyuki
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sorimachi
authors.forename: Yumi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yasuoka
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: Sarat Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Sahoo
authors.forename: Masahide
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: Nabil Mohammed
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Hassan
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tokonami
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Uchida
mesh_terms: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D000465:Algorithms; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D011886:Radon / Q000032:analysis*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive; D011886:Radon