INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Volume 4, No 4, 2014

© Copyright by the authors - Licensee IPA- Under Creative Commons license 3.0

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Evaluation of radon gas concentration in the drinking water and dwellings

of south-west Libya, using CR-39 detectors
Rafat M. Amin
Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Beni Suef University, Beni Suef, Egypt.
rafatamin@yahoo.com
doi: 10.6088/ijes.2014040400005

ABSTRACT

In the present study radon (222Rn) concentrations in drinking water and dwellings at south of
Libya was performed by using CR-39 detectors. The detectors were chemically etched and
the alpha track density was measured using an optical microscope. The average indoor radon
concentration for the whole survey was 29.7±3.8 Bq/m3 corresponds to an average effective
dose rate of 0.67 mSv yr-1. Variation of radon concentrations were found for different types
of rooms: 17±1.9, 29±2.7, 35.5±3.1 and 37.3±3.4 Bq/m3 for living rooms, bedrooms, guest
rooms and kitchens, respectively. In addition, the average radon level in drinking water
samples from different water wells was 3.46 ±1.76 Bq/L which corresponds to an average
effective dose rate of 25.3μSv/y. Results reveal that there is no significant public health risk
from radon ingested with drinking water and indoor radon concentration in the study region.

Keywords: indoor radon, drinking water, effective dose, Libya

1. Introduction

Radiation is a natural part of the environment in which we live. All people receive exposure
from naturally occurring radioactivity in soil, water, air and food. Radon-222 is a noble gas
with a half-life of 3.82 d. It is formed from radium-226, which is the fifth decay product of
uranium-238 and is the heaviest gaseous element in the natural sequential decay series of
uranium, thorium and actinium. The largest fraction of the natural radiation exposure we
receive comes from a radioactive gas, radon and its daughter. Researches carried out in recent
decades show that; under normal conditions, more than 70% of a total annual radioactive
dose received by people originates from natural sources of ionizing radiation, whereby 54%
is due to the inhalation and the ingestion of natural radioactive gas radon 222Rn and its decay
products. When inhaled into the lung, densely ionizing alpha particles emitted by deposited
Po-218 and Po-214, short-lived decay products of radon, can interact with biological tissue
leading to DNA damage and houses are an important exposure location due to the large
proportion of time spent at home. Also, radon from water contributes to the total inhalation
risk associated with radon in indoor air. The International Commission on Radiological
Protection (ICRP) suggests that radionuclides in water are absorbed more easily than radio
nuclides incorporated in food (ICRP, 1999). In groundwater, 222Rn occurs in a dissolved form
and its activity concentration may vary from a few Bq/L to thousands of Bq/L. The highest
activity concentrations are found from bedrock water. In surface water 222Rn is generally
found at very low levels (Aeita et al, 1987; Salonen, 1994). So, drinking water contains
dissolved radon and the radiation emitted by radon and its radioactive decay products exposes
sensitive cells in the stomach as well as other organs once it is absorbed into the bloodstream.
The present study focused on the Sabha and Murzuq regions located in south-west of Libya
and preliminary evaluation of radon concentration obtained from long term measurements of
radon in water and indoor air by using a passive integrated radon dosimeter.

Received on November 2013 Published on January 2014 484

 Evaluation of radon gas concentration in the drinking water and dwellings of south-west Libya, using CR-39
detectors

2. Methodology

2.1 General features of the studied area

The Libyan climate can be generally classified as a dry desert climate particularly in the
central and southern regions. It is characterized by the wide variations in temperature
between summer and winter seasons along with scarcity and irregularity of rainfall, with
yearly average rainfall ranging from just ten millimeters to 500 mm. So, Groundwater
represents the main source of water supply in Libya. It is extracted through wells ranging
from few meters to more than 1000 m in depth. The majority of the system’s water comes
from Libya’s two largest groundwater resources-the Murzuq and Kufra groundwater basins
located in Libya’s southern desert. They hold over two thirds of Libya’s groundwater
reserves (Alghariani, 2007).

Most of the houses (namely HAUSH) in the study region are the same height, and few have
more than one storey. The main building materials used in these houses, are steel, cement,
aggregate, hollow cement blocks, wood, mosaic and marble.

Table 1: The 222Rn activity concentrations and annual effective doses of the south-west of
Libya water samples.

Rn Concentration Effective dose per Annual effective

No. Location
(Bq/L) liter (nSv/L) dose (μSv/y)
1 Alsobitat 6.42±3.31 64.2 46.9
2 Traghen 5.17±2.73 51.8 37.8
3 Sabha 2.14±1.11 21.4 15.6
4 Umm AlAranib 1.02±0.47 10.2 7.5
5 Zawilah 1.41±0.65 14.1 10.3
6 Sabha 1 2.28±1.01 22.9 16.7
7 Ghoddua 4.46±2.13 44.5 32.5
8 Umm AlAranib1 2.29±1.21 23.1 16.8
9 Tasawa 7.26±3.62 72.6 53.0
10 Sabha 2 2.15±1.33 21.5 15.7
Average 3.46 ±1.76 34.6 25.3

2.2 Experimental technique

Indoor radon was measured by using the passive closed-can technique (Amin and Eissa,
2008). About 56 detectors were distributed in the houses of Traghen city in Murzuq District
in southwest of Libya. The CR-39 detectors were cut into Square pieces (2×2 cm, 500 μm
thick) and placed in diffusion chamber. The detectors were hanged in the various rooms of
the houses in Traghen city at a height of 2 m from the ground level from January 2008 to
June 2009. The sensitive lower surface of the detector was freely exposed to the emergent
radon so that it was capable of recording the alpha-particles resulting from the decay of radon
in the room. After the 6 months exposure, the detectors were subjected to chemical etching in
a 6 M potassium hydroxide solution at (70±1)ºC, for 6 h in a constant temperature water bath
to enlarge the latent tracks produced by alpha particles from the decay of radon. After the
etching, the detectors were washed with running cold water, then with distilled water. After a

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 Evaluation of radon gas concentration in the drinking water and dwellings of south-west Libya, using CR-39
detectors

few minutes of drying in air, the detectors were ready for track counting by an optical
microscope at a magnification of 400×.

Water samples were collected directly from 10 wells in the Sabha and Murzug districts. The
wells were pumped for several minutes before collecting samples in clean plastic bottles.
Water samples were collected from different sites in the study area, as shown in Figure 1. The
sampled sites comprise boreholes of depths ranging from 100 to 400 m, wells. Each sample
was placed in plastic bottles chamber with radius 5 cm and height 15 cm (Figure 2). Square
pieces of CR-39 plastic foil were mounted on the bottom of the cylindrical cans cup and
covered by a fiberglass filter. As the half-life of 222Rn is 3.82 days, the chosen exposure
period was 30 days, during which 99.5% of radon nuclei contained in the water samples
decayed. Since then the exposed detectors (CR-39) were collected and chemically etched as
explained previously.

3. Results and discussion

3.1 Radon in drinking water

The recorded values of radon concentration (Bq/L) in drinking water are given in table (1).
The average radon concentration in drinking water in Sabha and Murzuq districts was 3.46
±1.76 Bq/L. Therefore, the radon levels in Libyan wells are comparatively low since the
recommended maximum level (MCL) of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is 300pCi/L,
which is equivalent to 11.1 Bq/L. On the other hand, radon concentration was varying from
region to another due to many reasons, including the nature of the rocks of the study area,
population of the study area, depth of wells and time of storage water in wells and it has a
maximum of 7.26 Bq/L in Tasawa village in West zone and minimum of 1.02 Bq/L in Umm
Al Aranib village in East zone. Studies conducted all over the world to measure the level of
radon in the water and the values of 222Rn activity in drinking waters were compared with the
results obtained by other workers elsewhere (Table 2).

Figure 1: Map of Libya showing the investigated area.

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 Evaluation of radon gas concentration in the drinking water and dwellings of south-west Libya, using CR-39
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3.2 Annual effective doses from 222Rn ingested with water

The annual effective dose (mSv/y) was calculated by taking in account the activity
concentration of radon (Bq/L), the dose coefficient (Sv/Bq) and the annual water
consumption (L/y) according to equation

Ding = CR.IF.ED (1)

Where Ding is the committed effective dose from ingestion (Sv), CR is the concentration of
222
Rn (Bq/L), IF is the ingesting dose conversion factor of 222Rn (10-8 Sv/Bq for adults, and
2×10-8 Sv/Bq for children (UNSCEAR, 1993), ED is the water consumption (2 L/day) (WHO,
2004). For the dose calculations, a conservative consumption of 2 L/day per year for
‘‘standard adult’’ drinking the same water and directly from the source point was assumed
(UNSCEAR, 1993; Galan Lopez et al, 2004). The effective dose due to intake of 222Rn from
drinking water varied from 7.5 to 53.0 μSv/y with an average value of 25.3 μSv/y. In the
present study, the effective dose from 222Rn due to intake of drinking water is less than the
recommended value of 0.1 mSv/y (Somlai et al, 2007), therefore, the contribution to the dose
can be neglected.

3.3 Radon in dwellings

The results of the Rn concentrations in the dwellings are summarized in Table 3. We found
that radon concentrations in Traghen city ranged from 17.1 to 37.3 Bq/m3 with an average of
29.7±3.8 Bq/m3. This value is lower than the world-wide average of 46 Bq/m3 with GSD 2.2
(UNSCEAR, 2000). Equilibrium Factors (EF, defined as the ratio of the radon progeny
equilibrium equivalent concentration (EEC) to the radon gas concentration) were estimated
using the bare detector exposure mode along with the cup with membrane mode in these
locations for 222Rn progeny. For the measurement of the equilibrium factor in a dwelling,
measurements for both Rn concentration (Bq/m3) and the Rn daughter concentration were
carried out in 20 dwellings. For this purpose, CR-39 film was used in `cup with membrane'
mode to get the Rn gas concentration while films in bare mode for EEC Rn measurements.
Measured mean EFs range between 0.14 and 0.85 with a median of 0.36 ± 0.20 and most of
the values are found to be within 30% of the typical value of 0.4 used by the UNSCEAR
(1993) for inhalation dose calculations.

Figure 2: Schematic diagram for measuring radon concentration

in the water samples

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 Evaluation of radon gas concentration in the drinking water and dwellings of south-west Libya, using CR-39
detectors

Living rooms, bedrooms, guest rooms and kitchens in Traghen city give an average radon
concentration of 17.1±1.9, 29.0±2.7, 35.5±3.1 and 37.3±3.4 Bq/m3, respectively. It seems that
the living rooms are characterized by the lowest concentration because the living rooms are
open most of the time and ventilation is much better than bedrooms while guest rooms are
ventilated occasionally because they are closed most of the time to keep its expensive
furniture away from dust. However, bedrooms are less used than living rooms but more used
than guest rooms. The higher kitchen levels in all dwellings may be due to the use of either
cooking gas, i.e. liquid petroleum gas (Wojcik, 1989) or other fuel and use of water (Nazaroff
et al., 1988) which enhances the Rn concentration.

Table 2: Comparison of mean concentrations of radon concentration in drinking water with

previous measurements from different countries

Country Radon activity (Bq/L) Water type Reference

Saudi Arabia 0.89–35.44 Groundwater Alabdula aly, (1999)
USA 24–40 Groundwater Hopke et al, (2000)
Jordan 3.3–10.7 Spring water Al-Bataina et al, (1997)
Venezuela 0.1–576 Spring water Horvath et al, (2000)
Brazil 25.47–784.11 Groundwater Lima and Bonotto, (1996)
Brazil 0.95–36.00 Groundwater Marques et al, 2004
Libya 0.93-6.60 Groundwater Present work

4. Dose due to 222Rn in dwellings

According to the UNSCEAR (2000) report, annual mean effective dose H (mSv/y) to the
public from 222Rn and its progeny is estimated using the following equation:

H = C×E×F×T×D (2)
222 3
where C is the Rn concentration (Bq/m ), E is the measured equilibrium factor (0.36), F is
the occupancy factor (0.8), T is hours in a year (8760 h/y) and D is the dose conversion factor
(9 nSv/Bq/m3/h).

Table 3: Minimum, Maximum and average radon concentration in various types of rooms of
Traghen houses.
222
Rn concentration
Arithmetic
No. of (Bq/m3) Effective
Type of rooms Mean (Bq/m3)
samples Minimu dose (mSv/y)
Maximum
m
Bed rooms 14 10.3±1.6 85.2±7 35.5±3 0.80
Living rooms 14 5.1±1.5 34.5±5 17±2 0.39
Kitchens 14 11.2±1.2 70.5±8 37.3±3 0.85
Guest rooms
14 14.5±1.5 54.8±4.5 29±3 0.66
(marboa)
Average 29.7±3.8 0.68

The effective dose varied from 0.39 to 0.85 mSv/y with a mean value of 0.67 mSv/y, based
on the estimated annual radon activity concentration level (29.7 Bq/m3) for the dwellings.
This value is lower than the world average annual effective dose of 1.15 mSv, presented in
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detectors

the UNSCEAR 2000 report and is lower than the upper value (300Bq/m3) of radon in
dwellings (ICRP, 2009).

5. Conclusions

Radon concentration in drinking water and dwellings of Murzuq and Sabha districts of Libya
has been measured. From the measured radon concentration annual effective doses received
by the inhabitants of the surveyed area have been estimated. Concentration of 222Rn in
drinking water varies from 1.02 Bq/L to 7.26 Bq/L with a mean value of 3.46 ± 1.76 Bq/L.
From these results it can be concluded that the majority of drinking water is safe to use from
the stand point of concentration of radon in them. Mean values of effective dose per liter and
annual effective dose from radon ingested with drinking water for an individual consumer are
34.6 nSv/L and 25.3μSv/y, respectively.

The highest average radon concentration in dwellings has been observed in kitchens followed
by guest rooms while minimum average concentration was noticed in bed rooms followed by
living rooms. The obtained results are in the range from 17.1 Bq/m3 to 37.3 Bq/m3 with an
average of 29.7±3.8 Bq/m3 which is less than the less than UNSCEAR limits. The
experimental equilibrium factor ranged from 0.14 and 0.85 with a median of 0.36 ± 0.2. The
average annual effective dose from indoor air is 0.67 mSv/y. So it is concluded that radon
level in the dwellings as well as in water wells of the Murzuq and Sabha districts in Libya are
within the safe limits as proposed by ICRP, UNSCEAR and WHO etc.

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