Assessment of indoor radon concentration and time-series analysis of gamma dose rate in three thermal spas from Portugal

This work is a follow-up study on the exposure to indoor radon levels in Portuguese thermal spas. The previous research involved 16 thermal spas, where radon measurements in air and thermal mineral water were performed twice a year, from 2012 to 2016. These studies revealed concerning radon concentr...

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Autores principales: Silva, Ana Sofia, Dinis, Maria de Lurdes
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer International Publishing 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9314312/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35879585
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10157-x
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author Silva, Ana Sofia
Dinis, Maria de Lurdes
author_facet Silva, Ana Sofia
Dinis, Maria de Lurdes
author_sort Silva, Ana Sofia
collection PubMed
description This work is a follow-up study on the exposure to indoor radon levels in Portuguese thermal spas. The previous research involved 16 thermal spas, where radon measurements in air and thermal mineral water were performed twice a year, from 2012 to 2016. These studies revealed concerning radon concentrations both in air and water. Therefore, a follow-up study on long-term radon measurements was conducted to estimate the year-round average radon exposure. The closer the long-term measurement is to 365 days, the more representative it will be of annual average radon levels. Continuous measurements over 1 year for the indoor radon levels are now presented for three of the 16 previously studied thermal spas, together with a time-series analysis of the gamma dose rates registered within the facilities of these thermal spas (TS). An attempt to identify possible patterns in the variation of gamma dose rates was made. Hourly gamma dose rates were modelled and forecasted using the Box–Jenkins seasonal time series models (SARIMA). The results showed that between December 2018 and November 2019, the indoor radon concentration varied from 202 to 1941 Bq/m(3) (TS1), from 52 to 191 Bq/m(3) (TS2), and from 937 to 1750 Bq/m(3) (TS3). Approximately 60% of the obtained values for radon concentration in the indoor air exceed the reference level of 300 Bq/m(3). Gamma dose rates were continuously measured with GAMMA SCOUT® detectors for hourly readings (µSv/h) between 83 and 229 days. On average, the results are similar in all considered locations and range between 0.169 and 0.264 µSv/h, although variations are different in winter and summer. The calculated effective doses ranged between 3.49 and 18.65 mSv/year (TS1), between 1.37 and 2.53 mSv/year (TS2), and between 13.89 and 22.97 mSv/year (TS3). For occupational exposure purposes, workers would be classified as category A in nine locations (out of 20), as the exposure is liable to exceed an effective dose of 6 mSv/year. For the time-series analysis, the obtained models captured the dynamics of the time series data and produced short-term forecasts. Their accuracies have been quantified by minimizing the root mean square error, the mean absolute error due to the actual forecast, and the mean absolute scaled error. The current results corroborate the conclusions of previous research and give continuous data on occupational exposure to radon for three Portuguese thermal spas. For TS1 and TS3, the indoor radon levels are much higher than the reference level. Under this circumstance, mitigation measures must be implemented to reduce the radon levels accordingly with the Euratom Directive 2013/59 and the Decree-Law No. 108/2018. In general, the gamma dose rates were below 1 μSv/h and, therefore, the contribution to the annual effective dose is not significant. Nevertheless, the variation of the gamma dose rates showed a coherent behavior with the radon progeny build up in closed spaces, as when the considered facilities were closed for certain periods. The time series analysis made it possible to fit some models to the gamma dose rate variation, and although the produced models cannot forecast exact gamma dose rates, they can provide valuable information to build sound planning and decision-making strategies in occupational exposure.
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spelling pubmed-93143122022-07-27 Assessment of indoor radon concentration and time-series analysis of gamma dose rate in three thermal spas from Portugal Silva, Ana Sofia Dinis, Maria de Lurdes Environ Monit Assess Article This work is a follow-up study on the exposure to indoor radon levels in Portuguese thermal spas. The previous research involved 16 thermal spas, where radon measurements in air and thermal mineral water were performed twice a year, from 2012 to 2016. These studies revealed concerning radon concentrations both in air and water. Therefore, a follow-up study on long-term radon measurements was conducted to estimate the year-round average radon exposure. The closer the long-term measurement is to 365 days, the more representative it will be of annual average radon levels. Continuous measurements over 1 year for the indoor radon levels are now presented for three of the 16 previously studied thermal spas, together with a time-series analysis of the gamma dose rates registered within the facilities of these thermal spas (TS). An attempt to identify possible patterns in the variation of gamma dose rates was made. Hourly gamma dose rates were modelled and forecasted using the Box–Jenkins seasonal time series models (SARIMA). The results showed that between December 2018 and November 2019, the indoor radon concentration varied from 202 to 1941 Bq/m(3) (TS1), from 52 to 191 Bq/m(3) (TS2), and from 937 to 1750 Bq/m(3) (TS3). Approximately 60% of the obtained values for radon concentration in the indoor air exceed the reference level of 300 Bq/m(3). Gamma dose rates were continuously measured with GAMMA SCOUT® detectors for hourly readings (µSv/h) between 83 and 229 days. On average, the results are similar in all considered locations and range between 0.169 and 0.264 µSv/h, although variations are different in winter and summer. The calculated effective doses ranged between 3.49 and 18.65 mSv/year (TS1), between 1.37 and 2.53 mSv/year (TS2), and between 13.89 and 22.97 mSv/year (TS3). For occupational exposure purposes, workers would be classified as category A in nine locations (out of 20), as the exposure is liable to exceed an effective dose of 6 mSv/year. For the time-series analysis, the obtained models captured the dynamics of the time series data and produced short-term forecasts. Their accuracies have been quantified by minimizing the root mean square error, the mean absolute error due to the actual forecast, and the mean absolute scaled error. The current results corroborate the conclusions of previous research and give continuous data on occupational exposure to radon for three Portuguese thermal spas. For TS1 and TS3, the indoor radon levels are much higher than the reference level. Under this circumstance, mitigation measures must be implemented to reduce the radon levels accordingly with the Euratom Directive 2013/59 and the Decree-Law No. 108/2018. In general, the gamma dose rates were below 1 μSv/h and, therefore, the contribution to the annual effective dose is not significant. Nevertheless, the variation of the gamma dose rates showed a coherent behavior with the radon progeny build up in closed spaces, as when the considered facilities were closed for certain periods. The time series analysis made it possible to fit some models to the gamma dose rate variation, and although the produced models cannot forecast exact gamma dose rates, they can provide valuable information to build sound planning and decision-making strategies in occupational exposure. Springer International Publishing 2022-07-26 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC9314312/ /pubmed/35879585 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10157-x Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Article
Silva, Ana Sofia
Dinis, Maria de Lurdes
Assessment of indoor radon concentration and time-series analysis of gamma dose rate in three thermal spas from Portugal
title Assessment of indoor radon concentration and time-series analysis of gamma dose rate in three thermal spas from Portugal
title_full Assessment of indoor radon concentration and time-series analysis of gamma dose rate in three thermal spas from Portugal
title_fullStr Assessment of indoor radon concentration and time-series analysis of gamma dose rate in three thermal spas from Portugal
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of indoor radon concentration and time-series analysis of gamma dose rate in three thermal spas from Portugal
title_short Assessment of indoor radon concentration and time-series analysis of gamma dose rate in three thermal spas from Portugal
title_sort assessment of indoor radon concentration and time-series analysis of gamma dose rate in three thermal spas from portugal
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9314312/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35879585
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10157-x
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