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Tsapalov A, Kovler K, Shpak M, Shafir E, Golumbic Y, Peri A, Ben-Zvi D, Baram-Tsabari A, Maslov T, Schrire O. Involving schoolchildren in radon surveys by means of the "RadonTest" online system. J Environ Radioact 2020; 217:106215. [PMID: 32217247 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2020.106215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2019] [Revised: 02/18/2020] [Accepted: 02/18/2020] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
A 'citizen science' approach was evaluated as an approach to organize an extensive radon survey to be representative of the population of either single regions or a whole country. The "RadonTest" online system allowed schoolchildren to undertake and record short-term radon tests in their homes. Measurements were carried out in Israel using charcoal in miniature flacons and simple detectors with high sensitivity. Among other things, the "RadonTest" online system implements an alternative principle of building a radon map, allowing the display of radon tests more clearly than the traditional approach, while ensuring the confidentiality of test participants. Examples of public radon maps are presented, and the first test results are discussed. A scientifically based approach for the effective identification of buildings with a high radon concentration, based on the principle of radon regulation, is proposed.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Tsapalov
- National Building Research Institute, Faculty of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - K Kovler
- National Building Research Institute, Faculty of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
| | - M Shpak
- National Building Research Institute, Faculty of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - E Shafir
- Economic Systems, Odessa, Ukraine
| | - Y Golumbic
- Faculty of Science & Technology Education, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - A Peri
- Faculty of Education, Haifa University, Haifa, Israel
| | - D Ben-Zvi
- Faculty of Education, Haifa University, Haifa, Israel
| | - A Baram-Tsabari
- Faculty of Science & Technology Education, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - T Maslov
- National Building Research Institute, Faculty of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - O Schrire
- Faculty of Education, Haifa University, Haifa, Israel
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Nuccetelli C, Trevisi R, Leonardi F, Ampollini M, Cardellini F, Tonnarini S, Kovler K, Vargas Trassiera C. Radiological characterization of the ancient Roman tuff-pozzolana underground quarry in Orvieto (Italy): A natural laboratory to revisit the interactions between radionuclides and aerosols. J Environ Radioact 2017; 168:54-60. [PMID: 27426854 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2015] [Revised: 06/10/2016] [Accepted: 07/02/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Orvieto (Italy) has a large network of underground tunnels quarried to extract tuff and pozzolana by Etruscans and Romans. One of these tunnels was chosen as natural laboratory to compare different radiation measurement and dose assessment methods. Indeed, tuff and pozzolana are very rich in natural radioactivity and are interesting from the radiation protection point of view since they are still used as building materials. In order to characterize this site an in situ experimental procedure was followed. It consisted in measurements carried out with different instruments: two portable gamma ray spectrometers, two gamma dose rate meters, two radon monitors and one two channel working level monitor. Samples of tuff and pozzolana stones were also collected to be measured with gamma spectrometry in laboratory. Due to the high content of 238U, 232Th (more than 200 Bq kg-1 for both radionuclides) and 40K (more than 2000 Bq kg-1) of tuff and pozzolana, elevated levels of exposure to natural radioactivity were found: indeed, with different instruments and approach, a gamma dose rate of about 1 μGy h-1 and an average radon concentration of about 10,000 Bq m-3, with a Potential Alpha Energy Concentration (PAEC) of 288 MeV cm-3, were measured. The radiological characteristics of Orvieto underground quarry make it a perfect site for "in field" intercomparisons of different measurement and dose assessment methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- C Nuccetelli
- National Institute of Health, Technology and Health Department, Viale Regina Elena, 299, 00167, Rome, Italy
| | - R Trevisi
- Italian National Workers Compensation Authority (INAIL), Department of Medicine, Epidemiology, Workplace and Environmental Hygiene, Via Fontana Candida 1, 00040, Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy.
| | - F Leonardi
- Italian National Workers Compensation Authority (INAIL), Department of Medicine, Epidemiology, Workplace and Environmental Hygiene, Via Fontana Candida 1, 00040, Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy
| | - M Ampollini
- National Institute of Health, Technology and Health Department, Viale Regina Elena, 299, 00167, Rome, Italy
| | - F Cardellini
- National Institute of Ionizing Radiation Metrology, ENEA-CRE, 00123, S. Maria di Galeria, Rome, Italy
| | - S Tonnarini
- Italian National Workers Compensation Authority (INAIL), Department of Medicine, Epidemiology, Workplace and Environmental Hygiene, Via Fontana Candida 1, 00040, Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy
| | - K Kovler
- National Building Research Institute - Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 32000, Israel
| | - C Vargas Trassiera
- Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering - University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, 03043, Cassino, Frosinone, Italy
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Kovler K, Prilutskiy Z, Antropov S, Antropova N, Bozhko V, Alfassi ZB, Lavi N. Can scintillation detectors with low spectral resolution accurately determine radionuclides content of building materials? Appl Radiat Isot 2013; 77:76-83. [PMID: 23542118 DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2013.02.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2012] [Revised: 02/19/2013] [Accepted: 02/27/2013] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
The current paper makes an attempt to check whether the scintillation NaI(Tl) detectors, in spite of their poor energy resolution, can determine accurately the content of NORM in building materials. The activity concentrations of natural radionuclides were measured using two types of detectors: (a) NaI(Tl) spectrometer equipped with the special software based on the matrix method of least squares, and (b) high-purity germanium spectrometer. Synthetic compositions with activity concentrations varying in a wide range, from 1/5 to 5 times median activity concentrations of the natural radionuclides available in the earth crust and the samples of popular building materials, such as concrete, pumice and gypsum, were tested, while the density of the tested samples changed in a wide range (from 860 up to 2,410 kg/m(3)). The results obtained in the NaI(Tl) system were similar to those obtained with the HPGe spectrometer, mostly within the uncertainty range. This comparison shows that scintillation spectrometers equipped with a special software aimed to compensate for the lower spectral resolution of NaI(Tl) detectors can be successfully used for the radiation control of mass construction products.
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Affiliation(s)
- K Kovler
- National Building Research Institute-Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel.
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Steiner V, Kovler K, Perevalov A, Kelm H. Estimation of the radon dose in buildings by measuring the exhalation rate from building materials. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2005. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ics.2004.11.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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Kovler K, Perevalov A, Levit A, Steiner V, Metzger LA. Radon exhalation of cementitious materials made with coal fly ash: Part 2--testing hardened cement-fly ash pastes. J Environ Radioact 2005; 82:335-50. [PMID: 15885379 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2005.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2004] [Revised: 11/25/2004] [Accepted: 02/03/2005] [Indexed: 05/02/2023]
Abstract
Increased interest in measuring radionuclides and radon concentrations in fly ash (FA), cement and other components of building products is due to the concern about health hazards of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM). The paper focuses on studying the influence of FA on radon exhalation rate (radon flux) from cementitious materials. In the previous part of the paper the state of the art was presented, and the experiments for testing raw materials, Portland cement and coal fly ash, were described. Since the cement and FA have the most critical role in the radon release process relative to other concrete constituents (sand and gravel), and their contribution is dominant in the overall radium content of concrete, tests were carried out on cement paste specimens with different FA contents, 0-60% by weight of the binder (cement+FA). It is found that the dosage of FA in cement paste has a limited influence on radon exhalation rate, if the hardened material is relatively dense. The radon flux of cement-FA pastes is lower than that of pure cement paste: it is about approximately 3 mBq m(-2) s(-1) for cement-FA pastes with FA content as high as 960 kg m(-3).
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Affiliation(s)
- K Kovler
- National Building Research Institute, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
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Kovler K, Perevalov A, Steiner V, Metzger LA. Radon exhalation of cementitious materials made with coal fly ash: Part 1--scientific background and testing of the cement and fly ash emanation. J Environ Radioact 2005; 82:321-34. [PMID: 15885378 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2005.02.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2004] [Revised: 11/25/2004] [Accepted: 02/03/2005] [Indexed: 05/02/2023]
Abstract
Increased interest in measuring radionuclides and radon concentrations in fly ash, cement and other components of building products is due to the concern of health hazards of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM). The current work focuses on studying the influence of fly ash (FA) on radon-exhalation rate (radon flux) from cementitious materials. The tests were carried out on cement paste specimens with different FA contents. The first part of the paper presents the scientific background and describes the experiments, which we designed for testing the radon emanation of the raw materials used in the preparation of the cement-FA pastes. It is found that despite the higher (226)Ra content in FA (more than 3 times, compared with Portland cement) the radon emanation is significantly lower in FA (7.65% for cement vs. 0.52% only for FA).
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Affiliation(s)
- K Kovler
- National Building Research Institute, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
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