Radon exhalation from soil and ores is among the most dangerous risks for the public health care. The impact becomes even more powerful when technological enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) are used for public and private building. Here, we built a down-scaled model (a 1.0 m × 1.0 m × 0.5 m parallelepiped) of a dwelling, whose construction materials contain TENORM harvested in a site in Crotone (Italy). We observed an increase of the radon activity in the model when TENORM residues are employed, reaching a value around 120 Bq/m3, i.e. up to three times higher than the typical values of Crotone indoor environment, which ranges around 40 Bq/m3. These results have then been compared to a real use case. The correspondence found between the values of radon activity concentration in the model and in the use case suggests that estimating the radon concentration is a useful method to target TENORM presence inside buildings.

TENORM employed as inert material for house building: a model for evaluating the radon activity enhancement / Nicolino, Antonella; Ligato, Mattia Rocco; Ferraro, Mario; Procopio, Salvatore. - In: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL. - ISSN 1614-7499. - 29:17(2022), pp. 25020-25028. [10.1007/s11356-021-17174-2]

TENORM employed as inert material for house building: a model for evaluating the radon activity enhancement

Ferraro, Mario
;
2022

Abstract

Radon exhalation from soil and ores is among the most dangerous risks for the public health care. The impact becomes even more powerful when technological enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) are used for public and private building. Here, we built a down-scaled model (a 1.0 m × 1.0 m × 0.5 m parallelepiped) of a dwelling, whose construction materials contain TENORM harvested in a site in Crotone (Italy). We observed an increase of the radon activity in the model when TENORM residues are employed, reaching a value around 120 Bq/m3, i.e. up to three times higher than the typical values of Crotone indoor environment, which ranges around 40 Bq/m3. These results have then been compared to a real use case. The correspondence found between the values of radon activity concentration in the model and in the use case suggests that estimating the radon concentration is a useful method to target TENORM presence inside buildings.
2022
Building materials; Crotone; Indoor exposure; NORM and TENORM; Phosphorites; Radon activity; Construction Materials; Air Pollutants, Radioactive; Air Pollution, Indoor; Radiation Monitoring; Radon
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
TENORM employed as inert material for house building: a model for evaluating the radon activity enhancement / Nicolino, Antonella; Ligato, Mattia Rocco; Ferraro, Mario; Procopio, Salvatore. - In: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL. - ISSN 1614-7499. - 29:17(2022), pp. 25020-25028. [10.1007/s11356-021-17174-2]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1652627
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