Assessment of radon concentrations and exposure doses in dwellings surrounding a high capacity gas turbine power station using passive measurements and dispersion modeling

Abstract

A continuous passive measurement of indoor and outdoor radon R222n, concentration is carried out in the nearby residential areas surrounding a high capacity gas-fired power station. The mean value for indoor measurements was 26.5 ± 1.75 Bq/m³ that is below the worldwide indoor mean of 40 Bq/m³ and for outdoor was 39.4 ± 4.04 Bq/m³ which is higher than the worldwide average outdoor radon concentration of 10 Bq/m³. The annual estimated effective doses were found to vary from 0.54 to 1.05 mSv/y with an average value of 0.67 ± 0.04 mSv/y for indoor dose and from 0.23 to 0.57 mSv/y with an average value of 0.37 ± 0.03 mSv/y for outdoor dose with an overall mean annual effective dose of 1.03 mSv/y. Furthermore, the measured and modeled radon excess levels due to plant operation, both, show that the effect of power plant emission on atmospheric radon levels in the surrounding region is not significant.

Keywords: Effective dose; Indoor outdoor radon; Natural gas power station; Passive detector; Plume dispersion model.