Investigation of radon exhalation rate in the building materials

Humans are exposed to radiological hazards from natural radiation sources that exist mainly in the earth?s crust. Radon is a noble gas and is formed by the decay of 226Ra, which is one of the nuclides formed in the disintegration series from 238U. Building materials are concedered as one of the major sources of radon in the indoor environment. Radon is one of the indoor sources that cause radiological health risk. To study radon exhalation rate, samples of sand, gravel, ballast, cement, granite, marble, ashlar, ceramic tile, bricks were collected from Manisa and Izmir. CR-39 dedectors were placed at the top of the vessels. After exposing to radon for average 7 days within the vessels on the samples , the CR-39 detectors were processed. Radon exhalation rates are calculated by following the radon activity growth as a function of time. Radon exhalation rates in mBq/m2saat from these materials were also compared with literature values.Key words; Building materials, Radon exhalation rate, CR-39 dedectors.