Outdoor radon concentration in China

Abstract

A nationwide survey was conducted in 2014 to investigate environmental outdoor radon level in 33 provincial cities across China. The radon detector used was a passive-type solid-state nuclear track detector, CR-39. Measurements were conducted under the same condition following the quality control programme. Outdoor radon concentrations in China ranged from 3 to 30.0 Bq·m-3. The annual arithmetic and geometric mean radon concentration were 14 and 13.2 Bq·m-3, respectively. The radon concentrations in the locations near or along coastline were lower than the average value, while those located in the inland area were higher. As a whole, the result showed no big difference from the data measured during the period 1983-1998. It demonstrated that the outdoor radon concentration level in China has not been changing remarkably for 20 years.