Journal Article

Non-invasive monitoring of the relation between building materials and indoor radon pollution

Lamonaca, Francesco, Vasile, Monica, Nastro, Alfonso

2014

Overview

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 226Ra, 232Th and 40K.

• Publisher: The Institution of Engineering and Technology,The Institution of Engineering & Technology
• Subject: building material / building materials / Calabria region / Canberra system / cooling / elemental semiconductors / Fiore / gamma spectrometry / gamma‐ray spectra / geological area / germanium / granitic rock / HPGe fixed detector cooling / indoor radon pollution concentration / liquid nitrogen high radio‐emission value / natural radioactivity hazards / noninvasive monitoring / radioactive pollution / radioisotopes / radionuclides / radon / rocks / San Giovanni / semiconductor counters / Sila upland plain area / solid state nuclear track detector / Southern Italy / Special Issue: Environmental Measurement and Instrumentation