An assessment of indoor radon population exposure in high radon rural communities in Yugoslavia

Contemporary annualised indoor radon concentrations were measured in 90 randomly chosen dwellings in two uraniferous rural field locations in Yugoslavia. One field location is Kalna in the south-east of Serbia and the other is Gornja Stubla in the extreme south of Serbia (Kosovo). These investigations were made as part of the first phase of the planned National Radon Survey of Yugoslavia. The measurements were carried out using diffusion type passive radon detectors of Swedish design, using the SSNTD (Solid State Nuclear Track Detector) Cr-39 as alpha detector. The participation of Vinca in the recent international intercalibration of radon detectors at NRPB(England) confirmed the detector sensitivity to be 2.6 tracks.cm-2.kBq-2.m3hr-1. The results were as follows: at location Kalna, 76 dwellings were investigated and annualised indoor radon concentrations were found to range from approx. 10 to 2218 Bq/m3. At location Gornja Stubla, for the 14 dwellings investigated the values ranged from 132 to 8761 Bq/m3. These radon concentrations clearly place the two locations into the category of high radon areas. Based on ICRP recommendations, effective doses of some tens of mSv per year are being received by people at these locations, thus indicating their suitability for further population exposure studies. (author)