The First Indoor Radon Gas Measurement at Historical Places in Cappadocia, Nigde, Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the concentration of Radon and its annual effective dose at the Nigde Museum and in a number of historical places namely the Sungur Bey, the Alaeddin, the Disari mosque and the Ak Medrese Culture House in Cappadocia, Nigde, Turkey by using a nuclear track detector CR-39 to ascertain how much Radon concentration affects the people who are working in or visiting such places. Nuclear track detectors CR-39 were used for measurement for 132 days at the Nigde Museum, and for 63 days in the historical places. The exposed nuclear track detectors were then sent to the Sarayköy Nuclear Research and Training Center (SANAEM) to determine of Radon-222. The average Radon concentration results obtained for the Nigde Museum, the Sungur Bey, the Alaeddin, the Disari mosques and the Ak Medrese Culture House were 13.0±2.94 Bq/m³, 31.67±3.86 Bq/m³, 52.0±5.72 Bq/m³, 42.67±19.34 Bq/m³ and 31.0±4.55 Bq/m³ respectively. The average effective dose of Radon was calculated for the Nigde Museum, the Sungur Bey, the Alaeddin, the Disari mosques and the Ak Medrese Culture House in Nigde and was found to be approximately 0.137 mSv/y, 0.062 mSv/y, 0.103 mSv/y, 0.084 mSv/y and 0.327 mSv/y respectively

Keywords

• Radon
• environmental radioactivity
• track detectors
• diffusion chamber
• CR-9

References

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