Study of variation of radon and thoron concentrations in different rooms of dwellings in Tumkur district, Karnataka State, India

Indoor air is a dominant exposure for humans, where more than half of the body's intake during a lifetime is air inhaled in the home. Thus, most illnesses related to environmental exposures stem from indoor air exposure especially from radon and thoron. The main natural sources of indoor radon are soil, building materials like sand, rocks, cement, marble, bricks, and ceramics etc. which contain traces of ²³⁸U. In the present research, dwellings with similar building style (similar floorings and dimensions) from Tumkur city were selected for indoor radon, thoron and their progeny measurements. The radionuclides concentrations in different rooms of buildings were measured using solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTD's). All the ²²²Rn and ²²⁰Rn measurements were carried out in ground floor of the dwellings