Determination of indoor radon concentrations at the elementary schools of Fatih district in Istanbul

Radon is an odorless, tasteless, colorless noble radioactive gas which is produced within the radioactive decay chain of Uranium. The Radon forms in rocks, diffuses into soil and then escapes into atmosphere. When human exposure to high concentration of radon gas from inside, risk of developing lung cancer is increased. There are many methods to determine 222Rn concentration in the air. In this study, radon concentration of confined air spaces were measured by using LR-115 solid state nuclear track detectors. 509 LR-115 nuclear trace detectors were placed to 25 schools in Fatih District and they effective dose values were calculated. The results of measurements showed that the radon concentration varies between 40-395 Bq/m3. This results compared with Turkey’s limits (400 Bq/m3) are low, conversely higher compared with WHO’s limits (100 Bq/m3).