Estimation of equilibrium factors of radon and its progeny using SSNTDs in the various dwellings of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India

In the estimation of effective dose in the indoor environment due to Radon and its progeny the equilibrium factor (F) plays a significant role. It is the radioactive equilibrium between radon and its short-lived decay products. Generally in the dose estimation is made taking the equilibrium factor 0.4 (UNSCEAR value) for the radon and its progeny. But in practice the concentration of radon and its progeny vary significantly with local environmental conditions and time, subsequently the equilibrium factor F also changes and hence affects the effective dose estimation of a particular dwelling. Therefore the UNSCEAR F value does not reflect the actual effective doses. Therefore, the present study is carried out to estimate the equilibrium factors in different types of dwellings in the urban Hyderabad using SSNTDs. It is found that, the equilibrium factors in the urban Hyderabad vary from 0.01 to 0.71 with an average 0.32 ± 0.23. The average F values of urban Hyderabad relatively lower than Indian average and global average. The reasons for the lower equilibrium factor values in the study area have been discussed in this paper. (author)