Measuring the concentrations of radon gas 222Rn naturallyemitted from water samples selected from the marshes of Basra Governorate, southern Iraq

Abstract

This study dealt with measuring the concentrations of
radioactive radon gas emitted from (35) water samples taken
from selected areas of the marshes of Basra Governorate –
southern Iraq, to determine the concentrations of the radon gas
222Rn emitted from the selected and newborn samples of the
radioactive element Radium 226R resulting from the decay of
isotope uranium 238U in (July) 2020. Fast electronic technology
has been adopted by the RAD7 device. The results showed that
the highest concentration of radon gas in water was 15.531 ±
1.067Bq. L-1
in the sample from am alsanadiq of funds in the
marshes of Basra city, and the lowest concentration rate was
0.034±0.002 Bq. L-1 in a water sample from Qurna among the
studied samples. The effective annual dose of water was
calculated at the highest concentration rate and found to be
0.843mSv.y-1 and this value is higher than the internationally
recommended limits by specialized international organizations
of 0.1 mSv.y-1. In general, it was found that the radon gas
concentrations in some of the water samples selected from the
marshes of Basra Governorate–southern Iraq within the study
were higher than the permissible values of 11.1 Bq. L-1 according
to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and that
they may pose a risk to the health of the population in those
areas in If no necessary action is taken.