title: Radon concentrations in drinking water in Beijing City, China and contribution to radiation dose.
abstract: (222)Rn concentrations in drinking water samples from Beijing City, China, were determined based on a simple method for the continuous monitoring of radon using a radon-in-air monitor coupled to an air-water exchanger. A total of 89 water samples were sampled and analyzed for their (222)Rn content. The observed radon levels ranged from detection limit up to 49 Bq/L. The calculated arithmetic and geometric means of radon concentrations in all measured samples were equal to 5.87 and 4.63 Bq/L, respectively. The average annual effective dose from ingestion of radon in drinking water was 2.78 μSv, and that of inhalation of water-borne radon was 28.5 μSv. It is concluded that it is not the ingestion of waterborne radon, but inhalation of the radon escaping from water that is a substantial part of the radiological hazard. Radon in water is a big concern for public health, especially for consumers who directly use well water with very high radon concentration.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Radiological Protection and Nuclear Emergency, National Institute for Radiological Protection, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100088, China. wuyunyun-001@163.com.
authors.forename: Yun-Yun
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Institute for Radiological Protection, Beijing Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100013, China. myz0905@126.com.
authors.forename: Yong-Zhong
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Radiological Protection and Nuclear Emergency, National Institute for Radiological Protection, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100088, China. hxcuicn@163.com.
authors.forename: Hong-Xing
authors.initials: HX
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Radiological Protection and Nuclear Emergency, National Institute for Radiological Protection, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100088, China. jxliu@163.com.
authors.forename: Jian-Xiang
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute for Radiological Protection, Beijing Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100013, China. sunyr_cdc@163.com.
authors.forename: Ya-Ru
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Radiological Protection and Nuclear Emergency, National Institute for Radiological Protection, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100088, China. shangbing66@163.com.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Radiological Protection and Nuclear Emergency, National Institute for Radiological Protection, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100088, China. suxu@nirp.cn.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Su
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D002947:Cities; D060766:Drinking Water / Q000032:analysis*; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011886:Radon / Q000032:analysis*; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D060766:Drinking Water; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive; D011886:Radon