Radon gas concentration analysis in the area of STTN-BATAN Yogyakarta

Living things cannot be escaped from the radiation in their everyday life. The existing radiation is known as natural radiation. The largest source of radiation received by humans comes from natural radiation, which estimated about 87 %. It turns out that about 47 % of the natural radioactivity comes from radon and the rest comes from other radiation sources. The danger of radon gas internal radiation is when inhaled by humans and flows into the body through the respiratory system. Radon decay in the form of a solid will settle in the lungs. Radon is an alpha transmitting radioactive element, so that its presence in the lungs can cause damage to cell tissue. Damaged tissue can die or live abnormally (cancer cells). This study aims to determine the amount of radon gas concentration in the STTN-BATAN environment. Radon measurements were carried out using a RAD7 detector and other supporting equipment. The measurement mode used is the sniff mode. Solid state detectors are semiconductor materials (usually silicon) that convert alpha radiation directly into electrical signals. RAD7 does not measure the concentration of radon decay products, but only the concentration of radon gas. Radon gas measurements were carried out in several areas of STTN-BATAN for 15 min with repetitions of 3 times when the academic community was doing the normal activities. The results showed that the concentration of radon gas in the STTN-BATAN Yogyakarta region had results below the threshold recommended by ICRP Publication 65 (< 1500 Bq/m3) at several measurement points. Only at one point of measurement showed the results above the recommendation of ICRP Publication 65, which is 2153 Bq/m3. The estimated effective dose of radon gas to the academic community is still below the threshold recommended by UNSCEAR in 2000, so it can be assured that the academic community activity is in safe conditions.