Measurement of Radon and Its Daughter’s Concentrations in Indoor and Outdoor throughout Gaza Strip

Abstract

Solid-state nuclear track detectors CR-39 were used to measure Radon and its daughter’s concentrations throughout Gaza Strip. The distribution of the detectors was based on the geographical location of the houses. Our survey included, Nuseirat camp (N), Bureij camp (B), Maghazi camp (M), Deiralbalah camp (D), Abraj An- Nuseirat (A), and Zahra City (Z). The detectors (500) were left in the houses for about four months during the period from August to December of 2001. After collection, the detectors were chemically etched using a 20% solution of KOH at temperature 700C for a period of 5 hours. At the end of the etching, detectors were washed thorough with distilled water and then left to dry. Tracks on 9 distinct regions (amplified of unit area of 1cm2) on each detector, were visually counted using an optical microscope with power of (40´10), that were observed. The average number of tracks/cm2 was determined Radon and its daughter’s concentrations over the six locations in the middle region of Gaza Strip were varied between 13.36 to 83.82 Bq/m3 and had a maximum value of 97.06 Bq/m3. The average Radon and its daughter’s concentrations was 37.83 Bq/m3 with average standard deviation of 11.23. Average Radon concentrations for each site were determined as follows: Nuseirat camp 37.46 Bq/m3, Bureij camp 44.95 Bq/m3, Maghazi camp 38.04 Bq/m3, Deiralbalah camp 44.51 Bq/m3, Abraj An- Nuseirat 28.79 Bq/m3, and Zahra City 17.54 Bq/m3.