• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 1991

Effective dose equivalents resulting from inhalation of indoor radon-222 daughters at 12 residential areas in Korea were assessed by a simple mathematical lung dosimetry model based on the measurements of long-term averaged radon concentrations at 340 dwellings. The long-term averaged indoor radon-222 concentrations and corresponding eqilibrium equivalent radon $concentration(EEC_{Rn})$ measured by passive time-integrating CR-39 radon cups are in the range of $33.82{\sim}61.42Bq/m^3(median\;:\;48.90Bq/m^3)$ and of $13.53{\sim}24.57Bq/m^3(median\;:\;19.55Bq/m^3)$, respectively. The effective dose equvalent conversion factor for the exposure to unit $EEC_{Rn}$ derived in this study was estimated $1.07{\times}10^{-5}mSv/Bq\;h\;m^{-3}$ for a reference adult and agreed well with those recommended by the ICRP and UNSCEAR. The annual average dose equivalent to the lung $(H_{LUNG})$ from inhalation exposure to measured $EEC_{Rn}$ was estimated to be 20.90 mSv and resulting effective dose $equivalent(H_E)$ was to be 1.25 mSv, which is about 50% of the natural radiation exposure of 2.40 mSv/y to the public reported by the UNSCEAR.