Inhalation and external doses in coastal villages of high background radiation area in Kollam, India.

The observational evidence for radiation-induced health effects in humans comes largely from the exposures to high doses received over short periods of time. The rate of induction of any health risk at low doses and dose rates is estimated by extrapolation from observations at high doses. Effects of low dose/low dose rate could be done by the study of populations that have been exposed to slightly above-average natural radiation doses. Southwest coastal line of the Kerala state in India is one such region known to have elevated levels of background radioactivity mainly due to the mineral-rich sand available with high abundance of thorium. In the present work, a study was conducted to investigate the inhalation and external radiation doses to human beings in the high background radiation area along the southwest coast of Kerala. Five hundred dwellings were selected for the study. All the selected houses were at least 10 y old with similar construction. Long-term integrated indoor measurements of the external gamma dose using thermoluminescent dosemeters (TLDs) and the inhalation dose with the SSNTD-based twin-cup dosemeters were carried out in the dwellings simultaneously. Ambient gamma dose measurements were also made with a GM tube-based survey meter while deploying and retrieving the dosemeters. The data show a high degree of heterogeneity. The inhalation dose was found to vary from 0.1 to 3.53 mSv y(-1) and the external dose rates had a range of 383-11419 µGy y(-1). The external doses measured by the survey meter and TLDs showed an excellent correlation.