Assessment of Indoor Radon Activity Concentration Levels in Two Districts of the Upper West Region of Ghana

Abstract

The current study has estimated indoor radon activity concentration and annual effective dose in thirty eight bedrooms in Sombo and Jirapa in the Upper West Region of Ghana where no known studies on indoor radon has been carried out. The period of the study was from January 2014 to April 2014. Radon and its progenies have the propensity to cause lung cancer. The incident of lung cancer attributable to indoor radon exposure can be minimised by measuring the activity concentration levels of radon in homes with a radon detector. The instrument used in this study was Model, 1029, Continuous Radon Monitor manufactured by Sun Nuclear Corporation. The monitor was placed in randomly selected bedrooms for a period of twenty four hours in each room. The detector recorded the activity concentration, the temperature, pressure and humidity of each bedroom. Linear regression was used to analyse the data. The result was compared with other studies on radon. The indoor radon activity concentration in Sombo ranged from 8.8 to 229.6 Bqm-3 and that of Jirapa was between 11.7 to 108.5 Bqm-3. The annual effective dose was 1.89 mSvy-1 in Sombo and 1.52 mSvy-1 in Jirapa.. The data from this study was put on a provisional radon map of Ghana.