Abstract

• Water is the most abundant substance on earth, and it is the principal constituent of all living things. Radon dissolved in water can cause to significant health problems for humans through inhalation and ingestion. In the present work, a total of eleven water samples from the three villages near the Mine area in Salingyi Township were analyzed for dissolved radon by using solid state nuclear track detection technique. The principle of this technique/e is based on the production of track in the detector due to alpha particles emitted from radon and its progeny. To detect the alpha track, LR-115 plastic track detectors were used for an exposure time of 100 days. After exposure, the tracks are made visible by chemical etching and counted manually under the binocular microscope. The measurement track density is converted into radon concentration. The concentration of radon has been found to be varying from 0.36±0.02 pCil-1 to 0.61±0.04 pCil-1 . The present results show that the radon concentrations in all water samples are below the allowed limit from International Commission on Radiological Protection agency which is 27 pCil-1 (ICRP 2009). In addition to the radon concentrations, the annual effective dose has been calculated.