Assessing radiation dose for tour guides in Australian show caves from radon monitor measurements

摘要

This paper describes an extensive study to assess size-dependent radon progeny dose conversion factors for selected Australian show caves, and presents the results of the analysis for the 6 cave systems with radon levels exceeding current radon action levels. The measured size-weighted dose conversion factors for all caves in this study were found to be significantly greater than the radon conversion convention recommended by International Commission for Radiological Protection in its Publication 65. The measurement results also show that a dose conversion factor based on radon exposure of 5 μSv h~(-1) per kBq m~(-3), provides a more consistent estimate of effective dose than a dose estimates based on radon progeny exposure for the range of aerosol conditions in these caves.