TITLE:
Measurement of Radon Concentration and Estimation of Cancer Risk in Twenty-Four Model Houses in the Town of Koudougou
AUTHORS:
Moumouni Derra, Luc Telado Bambara, Karim Kaboré, Yalgado Zakaria Sawadogo, Ousmane Cissé, François Zougmoré
KEYWORDS:
Radon, Absorbed Dose, Annual Effective Dose, Cancer Risk
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Applied Sciences,
Vol.14 No.1,
January
31,
2024
ABSTRACT: The objective of our study is to evaluate
the concentration of radon (86Rn) inside houses in the town of
Koudougou in order to estimate its impact on the health of the population.
Indeed, when uranium-rich minerals are found near the surface of the ground,
radon concentrations can reach tens of becquerels per cubic meter in enclosed
spaces. Given the nature of the geological base of Burkina Faso, this situation
is quite probable and certain places that are sometimes poorly ventilated
(house, school, office, etc.) can have radon levels high enough to constitute a
health problem for occupants. Thus, twenty-four (24) sample houses were
identified. In each house, the Corentium digital detector was between 0.8 m and
2 m for at least one week in a place where the occupants estimate that they
spend more time of time and measure the concentration of radon in the long term
and short term. The recorded data allowed us to determine the Absorbed Dose and
the Annual Effective Dose of radon gas for each house in order to estimate the
Risk of Cancer and the probable Number of Cases of Lung Cancer per million
inhabitants. Thus, the results indicate that the long-term radon concentration
varies between 6 Bq/m3 and 285 Bq/m3 respectively in
houses 11 and 4 compared to 1 Bq/m3 to 208 Bq/m3 in the
short term in the same houses. Also, in the long term, in control houses 1, 3
and 4, the radon level is above the recommended threshold interval. For the
short term, these are houses 1, 3, 4 and 17 respectively with 110 Bq/m3,
142 Bq/m3, 208 Bq/m3 and 105 Bq/m3. As for the
long-term and short-term effective doses, only houses 1, 3, 4, 17 and 24 have
values between 3 - 10 Sv/year. The estimation of the relative risk of lung
cancer gives values relatively close to unity and between 1.006 and 1.142 with
an average of 1.035 and that of the Number
of Lung Cancer Cases per million inhabitants gives values between 8 and 166 with
an average of 42. Thus, we can conclude that with the exception of houses 1, 3,
4 and 17, the radon concentrations are relatively low in the twenty-four
control houses in the city of Koudougou. The lifestyle of the populations can
well explain this situation when we know that people are in the habit of always
leaving doors and windows open, especially when they are not sleeping.
We can therefore say that the risk of population exposure to radon gas is
relatively low in the town of Koudougou.