A follow-up study on indoor 222Rn, 220Rn their decay product concentrations in a mineralised zone of Himachal Pradesh, India.

A follow-up study was taken up in a mineralised zone situated in Hamirpur district, Himachal Pradesh, India, to investigate high values of radon concentrations reported in past studies as well to update the old radon data based on bare SSNTD technique. In the present investigation, the concentrations of indoor radon, thoron and their decay products have been measured using the newly developed radon/thoron discriminating diffusion chamber with single entry face, direct radon and thoron progeny sensors (DRPS/DTPS), respectively. The measurements have been carried out in 75 dwellings of 14 different villages where the previous studies were carried out using bare SSNTD technique. It was observed that high values of earlier reported radon concentrations were mainly due to thoron interference in the Solid State Nuclear Track Detector (LR-115 type II) exposed in bare mode. Now, the average concentration values and the estimated annual inhalation dose in these villages have been found to be within the reference level as recommended by the ICRP. The annual average indoor radon and thoron concentrations observed in these dwellings have been found to vary from 44±12 to 157±73 Bq m(-3) and 44±11 to 240±125 Bq m(-3), respectively. The equilibrium equivalent concentrations of radon and thoron decay products have been observed to be in the range of 10 to 63 and 1 to 5 Bq m(-3), respectively.