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Hindi Research Article
The Enhancement of Background Radiation as A Result of Using Natural Building Materials
Al-Kazwini AT1*, Said AJ2 and Attaelmanan AJ3
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Applied Medical Sciences, German Jordanian University, Amman, Jordan
2Applied Sciences Sector, Royal Scientific Society, Scientific Research Centre, Amman, Jordan
3Department of Physics, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
- *Corresponding Author:
- Akeel T Al-Kazwini
Department of Biomedical Engineering
School of Applied Medical Sciences
German Jordanian University
Amman, P.O. Box: 35247, Jordan
Tel: +96264294408
Fax: +962 6 430 0215
E-mail: akeel.alkazwini@gju.edu.jo
Received date: September 29, 2016; Accepted date: October 24, 2016; Published date: October 31, 2016
Citation: Al-Kazwini AT, Said AJ, Attaelmanan AJ (2016) The Enhancement of Background Radiation as a Result of Using Natural Building Materials. J Community Med Health Educ 6:482. doi:10.4172/2161-0711.1000482
Copyright: © 2016 Al-Kazwini AT, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
People living and working in buildings constructed from natural materials such as sandstone, concrete, calcite, gypsum, marble and granite are exposed to a surplus of background radiation from naturally occurring radioactive materials. The above materials contain naturally occurring radioactive elements such as potassium, radium, uranium, thorium and their progeny, which enhance the contribution to the ambient background radiation levels, consequently increasing the health risk. The unstable and hazardous radionuclides contribute remarkably to the level of background radiation in houses, schools and many other national institute buildings.
Radiation levels at various locations were measured on the main campus of the German Jordanian University (GJU), in the area of Mushaqar, South Amman, Jordan. Thermal Lithium Dosimeters (TLD) were placed in 22 offices in different buildings. Subsequently, the radiation doses from the TLDs were estimated, then, the weekly averages and annual doses were calculated. The results indicated that the total background radiation levels ranged between 2 mSv/year to 10.58 mSv/year with an average of 4.62 mSv/year. This average is higher than the background radiation averages for the city of Amman, the Royal Scientific Society (RSS) buildings and the worldwide average dose of 2.4 mSv/year for a human being (ICRP 1990). Furthermore, radiation levels at GJU were higher in the ground floor offices, which is consistent with natural background radiation behaviour in a multi-storey building.
