title: Radon and thoron doses in kindergartens and elementary schools.
abstract: Exposing the Raduet Rn-Tn solid-state nuclear track detectors, radon (Rn: (222)Rn) and thoron (Tn: (220)Rn) activity concentrations have been measured in 7 kindergartens and 18 elementary schools in Slovenia. Diurnal variations of both gases were monitored using a Rad7 device. The Rn concentration was in the range from 145 to 794 Bq m(-3) in kindergartens and from 70 to 770 Bq m(-3) in schools, and the Tn concentration was in the range from 21 to 73 Bq m(-3) in kindergartens and from 4 to 91 Bq m(-3) in schools. The Tn versus Rn concentration ratio varied from 0.02 to 0.83. Monthly effective doses due to radon and its decay products ranged from 109 to 600 μSv month(-1) in kindergartens and from 21 to 232 μSv month(-1) in schools, and those due to thoron and its decay products ranged from 3.8 to 13.3 μSv month(-1) in kindergartens and from 0.29 to 6.62 μSv month(-1) in schools. The contribution of thoron to the total effective dose was from 1.3 to 11 % in kindergartens and from 0.4 to 17 % in schools.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, JoŽef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia. janja.vaupotic@ijs.si
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vaupotic
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bezek
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kávási
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yonehara
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tokonami
mesh_terms: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis*; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods; D011886:Radon / Q000032:analysis*; D017687:Radon Daughters / Q000032:analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012574:Schools; D017524:Slovenia
chemical_list: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive; D017687:Radon Daughters; D011886:Radon