IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i23p8769-d451191.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Characteristics of Thoron ( 220 Rn) and Its Progeny in the Indoor Environment

Author

Listed:
  • Shinji Tokonami

    (Institute of Radiation Emergency Medicine, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki 036-8564, Aomori, Japan)

Abstract

The present paper outlines characteristics of thoron and its progeny in the indoor environment. Since the half-life of thoron ( 220 Rn) is very short (55.6 s), its behavior is quite different from the isotope radon ( 222 Rn, half-life 3.8 days) in the environment. Analyses of radon and lung cancer risk have revealed a clearly positive relationship in epidemiological studies among miners and residents. However, there is no epidemiological evidence for thoron exposure causing lung cancer risk. In contrast to this, a dosimetric approach has been approved in the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 137, from which new dose conversion factors for radon and thoron progenies can be obtained. They are given as 16.8 and 107 nSv (Bq m −3 h) −1 , respectively. It implies that even a small quantity of thoron progeny will induce higher radiation exposure compared to radon. Thus, an interest in thoron exposure is increasing among the relevant scientific communities. As measurement technologies for thoron and its progeny have been developed, they are now readily available. This paper reviews measurement technologies, activity levels, dosimetry and resulting doses. Although thoron has been underestimated in the past, recent findings have revealed that reassessment of risks due to radon exposure may need to take the presence of thoron and its progeny into account.

Suggested Citation

  • Shinji Tokonami, 2020. "Characteristics of Thoron ( 220 Rn) and Its Progeny in the Indoor Environment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-19, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:23:p:8769-:d:451191
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/23/8769/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/23/8769/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Narongchai Autsavapromporn & Pitchayaponne Klunklin & Chalat Threeratana & Wirote Tuntiwechapikul & Masahiro Hosoda & Shinji Tokonami, 2018. "Short Telomere Length as a Biomarker Risk of Lung Cancer Development Induced by High Radon Levels: A Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-13, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anastasia Zlobina & Iskhak Farkhutdinov & Fernando P. Carvalho & Nanping Wang & Tatiana Korotchenko & Natalia Baranovskaya & Anvar Farkhutdinov, 2022. "Impact of Environmental Radiation on the Incidence of Cancer and Birth Defects in Regions with High Natural Radioactivity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-20, July.
    2. Nunzia Voltattorni & Andrea Gasparini & Gianfranco Galli, 2023. "The Analysis of 222 Rn and 220 Rn Natural Radioactivity for Local Hazard Estimation: The Case Study of Cerveteri (Central Italy)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(14), pages 1-14, July.
    3. Sylwia Lewicka & Barbara Piotrowska & Aneta Łukaszek-Chmielewska & Tomasz Drzymała, 2022. "Assessment of Natural Radioactivity in Cements Used as Building Materials in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-26, September.
    4. Tetsuya Sanada, 2021. "Measurement of Indoor Thoron Gas Concentrations Using a Radon-Thoron Discriminative Passive Type Monitor: Nationwide Survey in Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-8, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chutima Kranrod & Yuki Tamakuma & Masahiro Hosoda & Shinji Tokonami, 2020. "Importance of Discriminative Measurement for Radon Isotopes and Its Utilization in the Environment and Lessons Learned from Using the RADUET Monitor," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-15, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:23:p:8769-:d:451191. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.