A two-screen sampler (an effective dosimeter), with a collection efficiency matched to the particle size response of the radon progeny dose conversion factors (DCF), obtained from the ICRP respiratory tract model as implemented in the computer code RADEP, has been developed to assess the inhalation dose from exposure to radon progeny. In order to evaluate the performance of this sampler, the se...

Radon concerns the international scientific community from the early twentieth century, initially as radium emanation and nearly the second half of the century as a significant hazard to human health. The initial brilliant period of its use as medicine was followed by a period of intense concern for its health effects. Miners in Europe and later in the U.S were the primary target groups surveye...

OBJECTIVE Uranium miners are chronically exposed to low levels of radon and its progeny. We investigated whether radon exposure is associated with increased incidence of leukemia, lymphoma, or multiple myeloma in this population. DESIGN We conducted a retrospective case-cohort study in 23,043 uranium miners and identified a total of 177 incident cases of leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. Detai...

The diurnal variation of the gross alpha (alpha) radioactivity in the air near the ground and the gamma (gamma) radioactivity emitted from the ground have been monitored in North-eastern Greece. Meteorological information comprising air temperature and humidity has been simultaneously recorded. Over a period of the 24h of a typical day, the variation of alpha-radioactivity reaches a peak in the...

The ideal facility for assessing the quality of radon measurements at environmental levels consists of: (1) an instrument whose response to radon and its progeny is determined from measurements of a certified or standard 226Ra source, and (2) a calibration room with a known radon concentration. The linkage between these two elements and additional quality control requirements are discussed here...

Radon concentration alone may not be an adequate surrogate to measure for lung cancer risk in all residential radon epidemiologic lung cancer studies. The dose delivered to the lungs per unit radon exposure can vary significantly with exposure conditions. These dose-effectiveness variations can be comparable to spatial and temporal factor variations in many situations. New technologies that use...

Mortality from lung cancer was greater in Ontario uranium miners than in the general male population of Ontario (observed = 152, expected = 67.6, standardised mortality ratio 225, 95% confidence interval 191-264). Part of the excess of lung cancer may be because the proportion of men who are smokers or have smoked is greater in uranium miners than in Ontario men. Smoking does not explain the wh...

The importance of (220)Rn (thoron) progeny for human exposure has been widely recognised in the past decades. Since no stable equilibrium factor was found between indoor thoron and its progeny, and the concentration of thoron progeny varies with time, it is necessary to develop detectors for long-term measurement that directly sample and detect thoron progeny. However, power supply of this kind...

A true bronchial dosimeter has been designed, consisting of four 400-mesh wire screens and a filter paper. With a face velocity of 3.3 cm s(-1) for home exposure and 4.6 cm s(-1) for mine exposure, the deposition pattern on the wire screens were found to satisfactorily match the variation of the dose conversion factor (in units of mSv WL M(-1)) with the size of radon progeny from 1 to 1000 nm. ...