Soil gas radon, indoor radon and its diurnal variation in the northern region of Cameroon

• Published in: Isotopes in environmental and health studies Vol. 58; no. 4-6; pp. 402 - 419
• Main Authors: Sadjo, Didier, Takoukam Soh Serge, Yerima Abba, Hamadou, Valentin, Vaskanglang, Saïdou, Alidou, Mohamadou
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 02-11-2022; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Cameroon; Detectors; Diurnal variations; effective dose; Indoor air pollution; Indoor environments; indoor radon; Inhalation; inhalation dose; Markus 10; Mean; radio ecology; Radon; Radon levels; radon variability; RadonEye; RADTRAK; Respiration; Soil gas; soil gas radon; Soil gases; Standard deviation; Cameroon; effective dose; Cameroon; RADTRAK; indoor radon; radio ecology; soil gas radon; RadonEye+2; inhalation dose; radon variability; Markus 10
• ISSN: 1025-6016; 1477-2639
• DOI: 10.1080/10256016.2022.2102617

Soil gas radon and indoor radon measurements have been carried out in Mayo-Louti and Benoué Divisions in northern Cameroon. Concentrations of radon in soil have been measured using Markus 10 at the depth of about 1 m. Radon concentration in soil varies from 0.9 to 13.8 kBq m
−3
with a mean value of 4.6 kBq m
−3
. Average daily indoor radon concentrations measured with RadonEye+
2
detectors vary from 7 to 60 Bq m
−3
with an average of 17 Bq m
−3
. Indoor radon concentrations measured with passive RADTRAK detectors range between 15 and 104 Bq m
−3
with a geometric value of 38 Bq m
−3
and a geometric standard deviation of 1.5. This geometric value is lower than the value of 30 Bq m
-3
given by UNSCEAR. Indoor radon inhalation dose ranges between 0.28 and 1.97 mSv a
−1
with geometric value of 0.72 mSv a
−1
(at 0.03 standard deviation). Outdoor radon inhalation ranges between 0.02 and 0.26 mSv a
−1
with a mean value of 0.09 mSv a
−1
. The total annual effective dose due to indoor and outdoor radon exposure for this study area is 0.81 mSv a
−1
, less than 1.15 mSv a
−1
the world average value given by UNSCEAR. There is no significant radiological risk for the inhabitants.