Results of the 2015 national indoor radon intercomparison measurements in Serbia

Abstract

Results and conclusions of interlaboratory comparison of indoor radon in 2015 in Serbia are presented. The participants were three accredited laboratories from Serbia: Serbian Institute of Occupational Health "Dr Dragomir Karajovic", Laboratory for Radioactivity and Dose Measurements at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad and Radiation and Environmental Protection Department, Vinca Institute of Nuclear Science. The laboratories make use of the same method for radon measurement, using charcoal canisters according to US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) protocol 520/5-87-005. Calibration of detection efficiency was performed using EPA radium standard. Radon activity concentrations were determined on the basis of the intensity of short-living radon daughters, 214Bi and 214Pb, gamma lines. The results of intercomparison were evaluated by using the u-test, which was calculated according to the International Atomic Energy Agency criteria. In this paper, not only limitations but also the advantages and possibilities of application of this method for measuring levels of human exposure to radon are discussed.