35
THE RESULTS OF MEASUREMENTS OF RAWS
AND BUILDING MATERIALS IN POLAND IN THE CONTEXT OF
THE INDOOR 222 Rn CONCENTRATION LIMITATION.

A.¯ ak, M.Biernacka, P.Lipi ñ ski, K.Mamont-Cie œ la
Dosimetry Dept., Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection,
7 Konwaliowa Str., PL-03-194 Warsaw, Poland,
tel.: ++48 22 8140201, fax.: ++48 22 8111616
e-mail: clorzii@clor.waw.pl

Legal regulations on the utilization of raws and materials assigned for construction are applied in
Poland taking into account radiation protection.
A qualification coefficient f2 = SRa, where SRa is the 226 Ra concentration in the material expressed in
Bq/kg, connected with the limitation of radium concentration in the product due to the emanation of 222 Rn (in parallel with qualification coefficient f1 limiting whole-body exposure for gamma radiation)
is used for the purpose of limitation of the 222 Rn concentration in buildings assigned for permanent
residence of people.
This paper contains the results of investigations of raws and building materials stored in the database
of the Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection (CLOR). The investigations were carried out in
years 1980–1998 by the CLOR and the network of the certification laboratories existing in Poland.
The average 226 Ra concentration for 1947 samples of lightweight and aerated concrete amounts to
73 Bq/kg (one sample exceeding the legal limit). The average concentration of 226 Ra for 3149 samples
of building ceramics (bricks, roof tiles, shapes) is 54 Bq/kg (again one sample not complying with
Taking into account the raws of industrial origin, fly ashes are most commonly used as addition to
building materials. The average concentration of 226 Ra for 7215 of such samples is 112 Bq/kg (about
15% of samples did not meet the legal criterion).
Key words: 222 Rn concentration, 226 Ra concentration, raws, building materials, legal regulations,
qualification coefficients, concentration limit, AZAR-92 spectrometer.
inhabitants of buildings [2].