Measurement of radioactive air pollutants in some industrial units

The radium content in coal and geological samples are reported much higher as compared to soil. The industrial units like thermal power plants, fertilizer plants, paper mill etc. are using coal as fuel. The combustion of coal in various industrial units results in the release of some pollutants including natural radioactivity to the environment. The radioactive radon gas and its progeny in the atmosphere, soil, ground water, oil and gas deposits contributes the largest fraction of the natural radiation dose to populations, tracking its concentration is thus fundamental for radiation protection. Keeping this in mind measurements of radon, thoron and their progeny in the environment and soil samples collected from the vicinity of some industrial units at Panipat (Haryana) have been made. The annual effective doses received by the workers have also been estimated. The radon concentration in the environment of thermal power plant is higher (165±42 Bq m^-3) as compare to fertilizer plant (105±21 Bq m^-3) which may be due to the use of large quantity of coal as fuel in thermal plants. (author)