Assessment of internal radiation exposure caused by radon in commercially bottled spring waters consumed in Turkey

ABSTRACT

The variation of dissolved radon levels in water supplies remains of interest since radon ingested through drinking water can give considerable radiation to the lining of the stomach. This study aims to determine the radon concentration levels in bottled spring drinking water (BSW) brands commercially sold in Turkey using a radon gas monitor and to assess the internal radiation exposure caused by the ingestion and inhalation of radon. The activity concentrations of radon analyzed in 77 BSW brands varied from 7.1±0.8 to 28.7±2.7 mBq/L with an average of 15.7±5.1 mBq/L. The total annual effective dose was estimated to assess the radiological risk for three age groups in four different scenarios based on annual drinking water intake. All estimated dose values are well below the recommended reference dose of 100 µSv for drinking water. Therefore, radon gas in the investigated BSW samples poses no significant radiological risk to the public.

KEYWORDS:

• Bottled spring water
• radon
• internal exposure
• annual effective dose
• AlphaGUARD

Acknowledgements

This study is carried out within the framework of a master thesis conducted at Kastamonu University and supported by The Scientific Research Projects Coordinator of Kastamonu University (Research Project codded of KÜBAP-01/2022-06).

Author contribution

All authors contributed equally to this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.