Developing a novelty method to estimate radon doses in a Waste Water Pre-Treatment Plant

According to World Health Organization (WHO), the radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer. This work is centered on a Waste Water Pre-Treatment Plant (WWTP) with radon concentration above Spanish action level (600 Bq per cubic meter). The authors have developed a novelty method based on gamma and alpha spectrometry to measure the radon equilibrium factor. At the same time, a Matlab© algorithm (UPVDose) has been coded based on the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) 66 Human Respiratory Tract Model for Radiological Protection (HRT), to calculate the inhalation doses received by workers of this treatment plant due to the radon progeny. The effective doses of the workers obtained in the human respiratory tract are found to be low, but results are very dependent on the radionuclide type of absorption •This work is centered on study indoor doses in a Waste Water Pre-Treatment Plant.•Inhalation doses received by workers of a treatment plant due to the radon progeny is calculated.•A novelty method to calculate the radon equilibrium factor is developed.•Radon equilibrium factor is calculated based on gamma and alpha spectrometry.•A Matlab algorithm has been developed according ICRP guidelines for radon inhalation dose estimation.