Radon exhalation rate from destroyed building materials in Gaza, Palestine

Other Title(s)

قياس معدل انبعاث غاز الرادون من مواد البناء المدمرة غزة-فلسطين

Dissertant

Sirdah, Shahir Hani Muhammad

Thesis advisor

al-Ghusayn, Mahir Umar

Comitee Members

Yasin, Samir Sulayman
Ramadan, Khalid Ahmad

University

Islamic University

Faculty

Faculty of Science

Department

Department of Physics

University Country

Palestine (Gaza Strip)

Degree

Master

Degree Date

2016

English Abstract

Indoor radon has been recognized as one of the health hazards for mankind because long-term exposure to radon increases the risk of developing lung cancer.

This study aims at assessing the contribution of destroyed building materials in war 2014 towards the total indoor radon exposure to the inhabitants of Jabalia district in Gaza.

40 Samples have been collected from common destroyed building materials in 2014 war in Jabalia district.

The closed-can technique has been employed in this study using solid state nuclear track detectors (CR-39).

After 124 days of exposure to radon, CR-39 detectors were etched chemically by (6N) NaOH solution at 75C for 4.20 hours and then counted under an optical microscope.

The measured track densities were related to radon concentrations, radon exhalation rate in term of area Ex, radon exhalation rate in term of mass Em and the annual effective dose for forty building material samples.

Results obtained from the current study show that radon exhalation rates from concrete and asbestos have relatively high values as compared to other building material while glass, marble and a red brick contribute less to radon exhalation rate.

The average radon exhalation rate in term of area in the studied samples ranged from (86.506) mBq.m-2.h-1 for glass samples to (469.017) mBq.m-2.h-1 for Concrete samples, with a total average value of (219.815) mBq.m-2.h-1, the corresponding total average value of radon concentration and radon exhalation rate in term of mass are (175.95) Bq/m3 and (5.550) mBq.Kg-1.h-1, respectively.

On the basis of these values the annual effective dose for each sample was also determined and compared with the effective dose limit values recommended by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (from 1 to 5 mSv/y).

In general, the annual effective doses from the investigated building materials are low and under the global value except for Concrete and asbestos samples with average values(9.464) and (9.3528) mSv/y, respectively.

Thus the studied materials are safe as construction materials especially with good ventilation rate, but special care must be taken when using Concrete and asbestos as building materials.

In comparison with values we measured with other people values, we see that we are very close in numbers, the differences are due to the different in origin of building materials, and the different in calibration numbers from place to other place.

Also we compare the destroyed building materials with the fresh one, we see also not a big difference, which mean there is no pollution from the war or we may need more accurate devices to detect radio nuclei like Uranium.

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Main Subjects

Physics

No. of Pages

67

Table of Contents

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Language

English

Data Type

Arab Theses

Record ID

BIM-727237