Jpn. J. Health Phys.

, 44 (2), 218 ∼ 231 (2009)

Review

Radon Migration Process and Its Influence Factors; Review

Nabil M. Hassan,*1,*2,*3 Masahiro Hosoda,*2 Tetsuo Ishikawa,*2 Atsuyuki Sorimachi,*2 Sarata K. Sahoo,*2
Shinji Tokonami*2 and Masahiro Fukushi*1

（Received on January 14, 2009）

（Accepted on April 10, 2009）

Radon (222Rn) generated within the grains of rocks, soils, building materials and other materials by the radioactive decay
of radium (226Ra) can migrate to the atmosphere. This paper reviews the emanation coefficient, diffusion coefficient, and
exhalation rate, and the factors that control the rate at which radon can enter atmosphere. The emanation coefficient which
is the fraction of radon generated within the grains of materials and escaped to the pore space, varied from 2.1 to 32% for
rocks, from 0.14 to 80% for soil, and from 0.10 to 58% in case of building materials. In addition, measurement methods
used to evaluate emanation coefficient and its influence factors are also reviewed. The diffusion of radon is a process
determined by radon concentration gradient across the radon sources and the surrounding air. The effective diffusion
coefficient of some materials is summarized. Moreover, the radon exhalation rate process and the main influencing factors
on the variation of exhalation rate data are reviewed. The exhalation rate varied in the range of 0.11 to 80 mBq m–2 s–1,
2.0×10–3 to 5.0×104 mBq m–2 s–1 and 4.0×10–3 to 5.0×101 mBq m–2 s–1 for rocks, soils and building materials, respectively.

KEY WORDS: radon, emanation coefficient, diffusion coefficient, exhalation rate, measurement techniques, influencing
factor.

products of uranium (238U), thorium (232Th) and uranium (235U),

I INTRODUCTION
 Radon is a noble radioactive gas; therefore it follows the
general gas law and the theory of radioactivity. Radon has two
aspects; it induces significant health hazards to uranium miners
and people living in normal buildings. Lung cancer is the
principal concern associated with radon exposure.1, 2) Radon
itself is not responsible for the hazard. Being chemically inert,
it does not accumulate to a great degree in the body. Therefore,
the primary concern is associated with the short–lived decay
products of radon. These species are chemically reactive and
so may be deposited on respiratory tract tissues when inhaled
may damage cells near the deposition site, contributing to
increase the risk of lung cancer.3) Another aspect is that it helps
in the treatment of malignant tumors (medical applications
of radon), mineral exploration, earthquake prediction, study
of volcanic activities and search for geothermal energy sources.2, 4)
Therefore, the measurement of radon in the environment is
important.
 Radon isotopes 222Rn, 220Rn and 219Rn (3.824 d, 55.6 s, and
4 s) are radioactive gases produced by the disintegration of
radium isotopes (226Ra, 224Ra, and 223Ra) which are decay
*1 School of Radiological Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University;
7–2–10 Higashioku, Arakawa-ku, Tokyo 116–8551, Japan.
*2 Research Centre for Radiation Protection, National Institute of
Radiological Sciences; 4–9–1 Anagawa, Inage-ku, Chiba 263–
8555, Japan.
*3 Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagazig;
44519 Zagazig, Egypt.
respectively. The relative important of the three radon isotopes
increases with their lives and relative abundance. Since 219Rn
has the shortest life and produced in much smaller amount (the
natural abundance ratio of 235U/238U is 0.00725), therefore 219Rn
review has been completely ignored. The diffusion length
(mean distance that radon gas can cut before disappeared) of
220
Rn (thoron) is very short when compared with 222Rn (radon).
Moreover, thoron has a very short half time so there are many
difficulties to measure the characterization of thoron from
different material.2, 3, 5) Therefore, this review article is focusing
on the historical literature studies of radon.
 After radon is generated from radium by decay process
in the solid grains, they emanate to pore gases or fluids and
then migrate a significant distance from the site of generation
,
in rocks or soils near the earth s surface, finally enter the
atmosphere before undergoing radioactive decay in an
exhalation process.6~9) An important parameter characterizing
the physical behavior of radon in materials is the emanation
coefficient, the fraction of radon atoms that escape from a
mineral grain into the contiguous pore space. The knowledge
of this parameter makes it possible to determine other features
of a material related to radon.10, 11) Radon isotopes can escape
to the atmosphere by diffusion process. The diffusion of radon
is a process determined by radon gas concentration gradient
across the radon gas sources (rocks, soils, building materials,
and other different materials) and the surrounding air. Also, the
exhalation rate provides a measure of the liberation of radon
from inside a sample to outside the sample. Its value depends
 Radon Migration Process and Its Influence Factors; Review
on emanation and on the concentration gradient between pore
and ambient air.12)
 As it was mentioned above, health hazard come from the
exposure of radon decay products not from radon itself. Why
did we concern on the migration of radon to the atmosphere
not on the radon decay products? That is because the radon
products cannot migrate in the gas phase through soil pores.
These species are present in the atmosphere only to the extent
that radon is present. So this work concerns on the historical
literature of radon emanation coefficient, different techniques
used to measure emanation coefficient, the affecting factors on
the emanation coefficient and the reported values in different
countries. The diffusion coefficient of radon is also reviewed.
Moreover, this paper reviews the historical literature of radon
exhalation process, different technique used to measure,
the main factors influenced on exhalation process, and the
reported values from several countries all over the world.
II EMANATION CO EFFICIENT
 It is well known that radon atom is generated from the decay
of radium atom inside the solid grain in the soil. A fraction of
radon atoms leaves those solid grains to the soil pores. This
fraction of radon atoms which escaped from solid grains into
the pore space is called emanation coefficient. To understand
the emanation coefficient process of radon into pore space,
we should follow the explanation of emanation process. When
radium atom decays to radon atom, alpha particle is emitted
immediately. Each of them will take a part of energy inversely
proportional with their masses i.e. alpha particle will take 104
to 105 times greater than radon atom (86–103 keV). Each of
alpha particle and radon atom will move in opposite direction
due to momentum conservation. Radon atom will move in its
direction until its energy transferred to the host materials. It
can travel 20–70 nm in common minerals, 100 nm in water,
and 63μm in air, this distance called recoiling radon range.3)
Radon range varied according to the different composition of
the medium. When radon gas was generated in solid grain, it
had three possibilities, it may travel and remain embedded in
the same grain, it may travel across a pore space and become
embedded in the adjacent grain, or released into the pore
space and stopped. If there was a liquid in the pore space, the
radon atoms may stop there which will increase the emanation
coefficient. The implanted radon atom in the adjacent grain
may be escaped to the pore space again, thus enable to escape
out by diffusion while its path was still molten.2)
2.1 The measurement of emanation coefficient with
various methods
 There are many methods and techniques for determining
radon and thoron emanation coefficient of materials. All these
techniques depend on the measurement of the maximum radon
concentration emanated from the samples in a closed space
i.e. measuring radon concentration in sealed space after the
radioactive secular equilibrium between radon and radium is
achieved. Radium concentration in the investigating materials
should be measured using γ– spectroscopy. Then, radon
emanation coefficient can be calculated by dividing radon
activity concentration (Bq) in that space by the radium activity
219
concentration (Bq) in those materials. Therefore all methods
used to measure radon isotopes equilibrium concentrations
in closed space can be used to measured radon emanation
coefficient by combining with a method to measured radium
content in the investigating materials.
 Measurement of gamma rays emitted from nuclides 226Ra
was performed by measuring gamma rays of energy 352 keV
for 214Pb, 609 keV for 214Bi after the radioactive equilibrium
was achieved between them and its parent, 226Ra. The sample
materials are first dried at 105oC for at least 24 hours (standard
conditions). Then the samples are put in appropriated
container and are completely sealed to avoid the air to enter
it or escape from it. Finally, this sealed container was kept for
one month to achieve the secular equilibrium and then 214Pb
and 214Bi isotopes were measured with a Gamma rays monitor
(High Purity Germanium Detector, HPGe). This method was
~
approved by many researches.13 18)
 M orawska and K ovler measured radon emanation
19) 15)
coefficient from concrete sample by making a cubic of each
side 15 cm and kept in an accumulation chamber. They
measured the equilibrium radon concentration from the growth
curve along with radium content. Finally, radon emanation
coefficient was calculated from Eq. (1) and (2)
η = Npδ/CRaρ (1)
η = q/CRam (2)
Where, η is the emanation coefficient, Np is the equilibrium
radon concentration, δ is the material porosity, CRa is the
radium concentration in the materials, ρ is the density of the
materials, q is the radon exhalation rate from the material, m is
the mass of the sample.
 Rood,6) and White and Rood,20) measured radon emanation
coefficient from NORM–contaminated pipe scale and soil at
petroleum industry sites. They firstly collected the samples,
dried them, and put them in completely sealed containers.
They used γ ray spectroscopy method (γ rays of 295 keV
and 352 keV for 214Pb and 609 keV from 214Bi) to measure
radon emanation coefficient. The samples were measured at 4
hours after sealed (I1) to allow the short–lived 214Pb and 214Bi
isotopes to grow into secular equilibrium with the radon still
remaining in the sample. Then, they measured again at 30 days
(I2) after the radioactive secular equilibrium between radon
and radium was achieved.
I1 = Io + N (1 – exp (–λt1)) (3)
I2 = Io + N (1 – exp (–λt2)) (4)
Where, I1 is the activity at time t1, I2 is the activity at t2, Io is
the bound 222Rn activity at time to, N is the radon activity at
radioactive equilibrium, and λ is the 222Rn decay constant.
N = (I1–I2)/((1–exp (–λt1))–(1–exp (–λt2))) (5)
N = (I2(1–exp (–λt1))–I1(1–exp (–λt2)))/((1–exp (–λt1))–(1–exp (–λt2))) (6)
F = N/(N+Io) (7)
From Eq. (7), radon emanation coefficient (F) can be
calculated. This method was used by many researchers to
measure radon emanation coefficient. 7, 14, 18, 21)
 B o s s e w used active charcoal enclosed with the
22)
220 Nabil M. Hassan, Masahiro Hosoda, Tetsuo Ishikawa, Atsuyuki Sorimachi, Sarata K. Sahoo, Shinji Tokonami and Masahiro Fukushi
investigated sample in an airtight container for some weeks
and γ spectroscopy method was used to measure radon
emanation coefficient of Austrian building materials.
 L ee and S ahoo have estimated radon emanation
23) 24)
coefficient by measuring radon mass exhalation rate and
radium content in the sample using AlphaGUARD monitor
and HPGe detector. Then the emanation coefficient (f) can be
calculated from Eq. (8).
Jm = Qfλ
– –
Where, Jm is the mass radon exhalation rate (Bq kg 1 s 1), Q is
–
the radium content (Bq kg 1), f is the radon emanation factor,
and λ is the radon decay constant (s 1).
–
 Savidou, Sakoda and Hosoda used an accumulation
11) 25) 26)
chamber, air filter, scintillation cell (300A, Pylon, Canada) and
its monitor (AB–5, Pylon, Canada) to measure radon mass
exhalation rate and radon emanation coefficient.
F = E/ (Rλ)
Where, F is the radon emanation coefficient, E is the mass
– –
radon exhalation rate (Bq kg 1 s 1), R is the radium content (Bq
kg ), and λ is radon decay constant (s 1).
–1 –
2.2 Influencing factors on emanation coefficient
 The emanation coefficient of materials was affected by
many factors which are related to the solid grain properties and
the pore space properties such as radium distribution inside
solid grains, moisture content, soil temperature, and solid grain
size. The relation between the emanation coefficient and these
factors has been described in detail as follows.
2.2.1 Radium distribution
 It is well known from mineralogy that radium distribution
is not likely to be homogeneously distributed over the whole
grain volume but it is concentrated over the surface layer of
the grain.3, 10) This can be shown from the relation between the
radium content and the grain size i.e. the radium concentration
increases as the grain size decreases due to two factors. Firstly,
the surface area to volume ratio becomes larger, when grain
size becomes smaller. Secondly, small grains contain more
radium than large grains. The emanation coefficient increases
as the radium content is more concentrated at the surface
layers of the grains.
2.2.2 Water Content
 The emanation coefficient increased smoothly with
increasing of water content till it reached a certain saturation
level in the pore space. This can be explained with increasing
in water content the direct and indirect fractions of emanation.
Thus, the water content occupied the adsorption sites of
the grain surface can adsorb radon atoms. This will lead to
increase the radon emanation coefficient. When the water
content reached that saturation level, the emanation coefficient
remains constant even with increase of water content.22, 27~31)
Water content saturation level is not fixed for all materials. It
mainly depends on its grain size and porosity. The material
with low grain size like clay needs little water to reach a
saturation level while the materials with large grain size
such as sandy soil needs much amount of water to reach that
saturation level.29)
2.2.3 Temperature
 It is understood that the radon emanation coefficient
increases with increase of temperature. This may arise from
the adsorption process of gases on solid grain will decrease i.e.
the increase in temperature markedly decreases the amount of
adsorbed gas.28) Iskandar32) estimated a formula to calculate the
emanation coefficient at different temperature,
εc =ε+ 0.21 (Tc–T) (10)
(8)
Where,ε, the measured emanation coefficient (%), T is soil
temperature at the time of sampling, εc is the calculated radon
emanation coefficient (%) at a particular temperature (Tc).
2.2.4 Grain Size
 The emanation coefficient decreases as the solid grain size
increases.12, 29, 33) This is due to ratio of the grain surface area
to its volume gets smaller. Therefore, the directed recoil radon
atoms will decrease. Also the defused radon atom through the
solid matrix will be decreased. For example, when the radius
(9)
of the grains increased from 0.5, 1, to 8μm, the emanation
coefficient decreases from 40, 20, to 2%, respectively.10)
Consequently, the radon emanation coefficient will be
decreased.
2.3 Summaries of previous data of radon isotopes
emanation coefficient
 The measured values of radon emanation coefficient of
many soil, rock and building materials samples from different
countries all over the world have been summarized in Table 1.
1, 6, 7, 12, 13, 15, 18~25, 27, 29, 32, 34~49)
The emanation coefficient varies
among different samples due to their nature of origin.
III DIFFUSION COEFFICIENT
 Since the soil pore space have higher radon concentration
than the atmosphere open air, radon atom will diffuse from
the pore space into the open air. Radon gas atoms can be
escaped to the atmosphere by diffusion process. The diffusion
phenomenon occurs when there is a different gas concentration
between two media. In a consequence, a flux from high
concentration will move to low concentration.3, 37, 50) The
diffusion of radon in open air can be described by Fick's law,
which states that the flux density of the diffusing substance is
linearly proportional to its concentration gradient. Fick's law
can be expressed as follows:
J = – D0∇ C, (11)
Where, J is flux density of radon activity due to diffusion
– –
process (exhalation rate) in units of Bq m 2 s 1, C is the
activity concentration of radon (Bq m ), ∇ is the gradient
–3
operator (m–1), and D0 is the molecular, or atom diffusivity
or the diffusion coefficient of radon in open air in units of
(m2 s–1). Therefore, the diffusion coefficient in air, D0, can be
,
defined from Fick s equation and expressed as the ratio of the
magnitudes of the vectors J to∇ C.
D0 = | J | / ∇
| C| (12)
For radon diffusion in open air, Fick's law is uniquely
expressed and, consequently, the diffusion coefficient of radon
in open air, D0, is also uniquely defined (1.2×10–5 m2 s–1).51)
 Radon Migration Process and Its Influence Factors; Review 221

Table 1 Radon emanation coefficient in soil, rock and building materials

Materials The country produced or used Emanation coefficient (%)
Sediment rocks7) Bangladesh 23 – 32
Marble34) Morocco 9.0 – 17
Granite25) Japan, Misasa 29
Granite25) Austria, Badgastein 2.1
Soil35) Japan 10±2.0*
Soils36) Hawaii 2.0 – 70
Soil13) U.S.A., San Jose 25
Soil37) New Mexico 38±8.0
Soil38) Denmark 22±13
Soil1) World wide value 1.0 – 80
Soil39) Slovenia 14±3.0
Soil29) Finland 17 – 23
Soil40) Florida, U.S.A. 25
Soil12) Italy 6.0 – 60
Soil41) Bangladesh 27±11
Soil7) Bangladesh 23
Soil20) U.S.A., Oklahoma 21±10
Soil20) U.S.A., Michigan 13±0.70
Soil20) U.S.A., Kentucky 13±9.0
Soil42) Jordan 0.14 – 3.3
Soil43) Sweden, Lund 0.20 – 22
Soil43) Spain, Barcelona 2.3 – 4.8
Soil32) Japan, Honshu 31
Building materials44) Morocco 19 – 44
Building materials44) Morocco 18 – 41*
Building materials23) South Korea 2.4 – 11
Building materials22) Austria 0.50 – 30
Building materials24) India 0.10 – 28
Concrete45) Norwegian 1.0 – 20
Concrete46) U.S.A. 13 – 25
Concrete19) Poland 2.5±0.21
Concrete47) Netherlands 20 – 58
Phosphogypsum48) Belgium 14
Fly ash49) Norway 0.50 – 1.5
Tubing segments6) Taxes, U.S.A 2.0 – 6.0
Cement47) Netherlands 20 – 58
Cement 15)
Israel 0.52 – 7.7
Cement18) Turkey 0.50 – 29
Uranium mill tailing27) Austria, Jabiluka 7.2
Uranium mill tailing20) U.S.A. 15±1.9
Petroleum waste21) Saudi Arabia 15 – 57
* Thoron emanation coefficient

However, when applied to the conditions of radon diffusion
,
in porous media, such as in soil samples; Fick s equation can
be written in different ways, depending on how the variables
flux density J and concentration C are defined. Fick's equation
can be written in different form when applied to the molecular
diffusion phenomenon in porous media, depending on whether
the bulk or pore volume is used to define the concentration
and whether the bulk or pore area is used to define the flux
density. This different way of defining the radon diffusion
coefficient in soil leads to some confusion in selecting and
using these parameters because the symbols and nomenclature
used have not been standardized.52)
 Two distinct ways of defining the diffusion coefficient of
radon in porous media have been adopted in the literature:
(1) De is the effective radon diffusion coefficient and (2) D
52)
is the bulk radon diffusion coefficient. However, Nazaroff
have noted discrepancies regarding the way these two
coefficients are defined and used in modeling the diffusion
of radon through porous media.The bulk and the effective
radon diffusion coefficients in soil, D and De, respectively,
are correlated by the total soil porosity,ε, according to the
following expression:53)
D =εDe (13)
De = D0εexp (−6 mε−6 m14ε) (14)
Where, m is the fraction of water saturation.
In general, the diffusion coefficient in porous media is a
222 Nabil M. Hassan, Masahiro Hosoda, Tetsuo Ishikawa, Atsuyuki Sorimachi, Sarata K. Sahoo, Shinji Tokonami and Masahiro Fukushi

property of the diffusing species, the pore structure, the type of
fluids present in the pores, and the adsorption properties of the
solid matrix, the fluid saturations, and temperature. For radon
diffusion in porous media, the diffusivity for the other isotopes
of radon (e.g., 220Rn) has been observed to be comparable to
that for the isotope 222Rn53). The diffusion coefficient for some
materials can be seen in table 2.27, 37, 51, 54~59) These data shows
the variation of diffusion coefficient due to the variation in the
medium.
3.1 Measurements techniques
 There are many techniques used to measure radon diffusion
coefficient of porous samples. Most value of diffusion
coefficient in the literature is an effective diffusion coefficient,
which is equal to the bulk (true) diffusion coefficient divided
by porosity. Laboratory methods for the determination of the
diffusion coefficient of radon in samples depend on using
constant relatively high radon concentration on one side of
the investigated sample and then measuring the diffused
radon from the other side. The measurement of radon
diffusion coefficient from different samples is divided into
two methods accordingly to the diffused radon concentration
from the other side of the sample. First method depends on
the increasing of radon concentration with the time called
transient method and the second one is using the stable radon
concentration (equilibrium radon concentration) called steady
state method.60, 61) There are many researchers used those
methods to measure diffusion coefficient in different samples,
as described in this paper.
3.1.1 Electrostatic method
 Since radon progeny is formed as a positive ion by alpha
decay, therefore it is possible to collect all these nuclides if we
applied an electric field between two electrodes that collects
the radon gas in between. Folkerts58) and Aldenkamp62) used
that idea to measure radon diffusion coefficient from building
materials. The electrodes of the electric field are made of
metallic hemisphere and grid at the bottom of hemisphere
which are both at positive high voltage and the surface barrier
detector at earth potential. When exhaled radon atoms reached
and decayed within the chamber, a proportion of the first decay
products will be deposited on the detector. Consequently, the
radon exhalation will be measured from the alpha–spectra of
their progeny. They also measured the diffusion coefficient
using the same technique.
3.1.2 Ionization chamber method
 Jiránek and Fronka60) used an ionization chamber detector
to measure radon concentration on both side of the
investigating sample. Then, they developed a program to use
these data to measure radon diffusion coefficient in damp–
proof membranes developed in the Czech Republic.
3.1.3 Polymer detector
 Singh and Virk,63) Chauhan used LR–115 to measure
56)
radon diffusion coefficient of soil, sand and building materials
by exposing one side of the sample to high radon concentration
and then, measured the diffused radon from the other side. For
the radon source, a uranium rich ore in powder form is used. A
thick latex rubber membrane is used to protect the mixing of
the source with diffusing materials. An aluminum cylinder (4.5
cm diameter and 18 cm height) with a screw cap at one end
is deployed vertically. This source constitutes the bottom of
a vertical aluminum cylinder. This cylinder is then filled with
the diffusing material (soil or sand) up to a height of 12 cm; a
space of 6 cm is left empty to avoid the impact of direct alpha
particles. At the top of the cylinder plastic track detectors
(LR–115) were fixed on an aluminum sheet.
3.1.4 Lucas cells
 Quindos Poncela,59) estimated radon diffusion coefficient
in proof barriers by using modified Lucas cell. The device is
connected to a radon source and tightly closed onto the top by
a test insulating material. Assuming no radon production in
the tested material and no leakage in the cell, radon diffusion
coefficient in a membrane of area S and thickness d placed
onto the top of the cell of volume V can be calculated from Eq.
(15).
C0 (t) = C0 (0) Exp (– (1+DeS/Vdλ)λt) (15)
Where, C0 (0) the initial inner radon concentration in the cell,

Table 2　Diffusion coefficient and diffusion length of radon in various materials

Materials Diffusion coefficient Diffusion length (cm)
(cm2 s–1) Radon Thoron
Air51) 12 ×10–2 2.4 ×102 3.1 ×100
Water54) 10 ×10–6 2.2 ×100 3.0 ×10–2
Porous 54)
5.0 ×10 –2
1.6 ×10 2
2.0 ×100
Soil37)
(9.0 ±2.0) ×10 –3
(11 ±1.5) ×10 1
(14 ±2.0) ×10–1
Soil55) (48 – 85) ×10–3 (1.5 – 2.0) ×102 ………
Clay soil55) (8.0 – 62) ×10–7 (6.0 – 17) ×10–1 ………
Soil56) (34 ±1.0) ×10–3 (1.2 ±0.09) ×102 ………
Silty sandy57) 27 ×10–3 …… ………
Sand 56)
(34 ±2.0) ×10–3 (1.3 ±0.13) ×102 …….
Gypsum58) 17 ×10–3 1.3 ×102 1.0 ×100
Heavy concrete58) 68 ×10–7 6.0 ×100 1.0 ×10–1
Building materials 56)
(11 – 26) ×10 –3
(0.73 – 1.1) ×10 2
……
Uranium tailing57) (54 – 71) ×10–3 ………… ………
Uranium tailing27) 79 ×10–3 ………… ………
Radon proof barriers 59)
0.10 ×10–8 ……… ……
 Radon Migration Process and Its Influence Factors; Review
C0 (t) is the radon concentration in the cell at any time t, De the
effective radon diffusion coefficient in the membrane, and λ
is radon decay constant.
3.2 Influencing factors on diffusion coefficient
3.2.1 Water content
 It is well known that water content is inversely proportional
to diffusion coefficient i.e. by increasing the water content
the diffusion coefficient will decrease. This relation can be
explained e.g. at low water content radon can diffuse through
empty pores space easily. By increasing the water content in
the pore space, pores will be filled with water or other liquid,
so radon will diffuse slowly due to the difference in the
diffusion coefficient of the liquid or water and air. This results
in decreasing the diffusion coefficient with increase of water
content.27, 53, 64, 65)
3.2.2 Grain size
 Chauhan studied the relation between radon diffusion
56)
coefficient and the soil and sand grain size. He found that
radon diffusion coefficient decreases as the soil and sand grain
size decrease. This is due to the decrease in permeability and
increase in the bulk density.
IV EXHALATION RATE
 It is well known that after radon has been produced from
the decay of their parents in solid grains, a fraction of them
escaped to the pore space. By time the radon in this pore will
migrate to the atmosphere in a process called exhalation rate
which is defined as the number of radon isotopes atoms left
– –
the unit surface area of material per unit time (Bq m 2 s 1), or
mass exhalation rate which is defined as the number of radon
isotopes atoms left the unit mass of the material per unit time
– –
(Bq kg 1 s 1).
 The flux density of radon per unit area of the bulk porous
medium (radon exhalation rate of pores plus solids), rather
than per unit area of the pore air, migrated through soil that
results from diffusion can be calculated from Eq.(16).16, 66)
J =ρb fARa (λRnDe)1/2 (16)
 Where, ρb is the dry bulk density (kg m ), f is the soil
–3
emanation coefficient of radon, ARa is the radium concentration
in the soil, and λRn is the radon decay constant. There are
many reports on radon exhalation rate from various material
such soils, rocks, directly from the ground and building
materials.
4.1 The different techniques using in measuring radon
and thoron exhalation rate.
 There are many techniques used to measure radon exhalation
rate directly from ground, soils, rocks or from building
materials. The radon exhalation rate from the ground is one
of the most important factors that is useful to classify areas
that could be building ground, if it has a high radon risk
(indoor radon will be high), or not. This paper concerns on
summarizing the techniques which were applied to measure
radon exhalation rate.
4.1.1 Measuring radon and thoron exhalation rate
using accumulation method.
 This method was developed in Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
223
to measure radon exhalation rate from U.S. building materials.
It is based on the accumulated radon gas that escaped from the
material in appropriate time. The escaped radon is transferred
into a scintillation cell, and was allowed for more than three
hours from collected time to achieve the equilibrium between
radon and their daughters. Subsequently, alpha particles from
radon decay and their daughters were measured. From the
calibration factor and alpha count, the radon concentration will
be known. Therefore the radon exhalation rate can be easily
calculated from the accumulated chamber sample geometry
and radon concentration.13, 46, 49)
 Schery5) measured radon exhalation rate from the ground
soil by accumulation method. He placed a chamber with an
open bottom upon a soil and estimates the exhalation rate from
the build up of radon within the chamber.
 Zahorowski and Whittlestone developed a radon and
67)
thoron manometer based on a flow through accumulator
method and two scintillation cells for detection. Radon and
thoron were separated in a delay volume with transit time
long enough for significant thoron reduction. The instrument
consists of an accumulator chamber and detection unit.
The air is pumped using two small pumps. Two one liter
scintillation cells are connected by a delay line. The light
pulses are detected by photomultiplier tubes coupled with a
data acquisition and control unit. They used this technique to
measure radon and thoron exhalation rate from ground soil
directly in Australia.
 Chao68) used the accumulation method to measure radon
exhalation rate from the common used building materials
in China. He used an accumulation chamber, electrostatic
semiconductor detector (Rad – 7, Durridge, USA) radon
monitor and desiccant in a closed cycle to measure radon
exhalation rate, back–diffusion and radon gas leakage from the
accumulation chamber.
 Koarashi50) used accumulation chamber and AlphaGUARD
radon monitor to measure radon exhalation rate as a function
of meteorological parameters (air pressure, temperature,
relative Humidity, and rainfall). He embedded a chamber made
of polymethylmethacrylate (1.5×0.2 m base area and 0.5 m)
into soil 0.25 m and put inside it AlphaGUARD monitor to
measure radon exhalation rate from the ground soil surface.
He also measured the soil prosperities i.e. he measured the
soil porosity the moisture content, radium content at different
depth and soil temperature at depth 0.25 m from the ground
surface. Moreover he measured all meteorological parameters.
He noticed the radon exhalation rate varied with soil properties
and meteorological parameters.
 Tokonami69) measured radon and thoron exhalation rate
using the accumulation method. He used an accumulated
chamber, scintillation cell, and AB–5 as scintillation counter
(Alpha monitor) with an internal pump to measure radon and
thoron concentration. It can be easily measured the radon and
thoron exhalation rate from Eq. (17).
Ei =λiXiV/S (1–exp (–λiT)) (17)
Where: Ei is the exhalation rate of radon/thoron (i–nuclide)
(Bq m 2 s 1), λi is the decay constant of i–nuclide (s 1), T is
– – –
224 Nabil M. Hassan, Masahiro Hosoda, Tetsuo Ishikawa, Atsuyuki Sorimachi, Sarata K. Sahoo, Shinji Tokonami and Masahiro Fukushi
the accumulation time (s), Xi is the activity concentration of i–
–
nuclide (Bq m 3), V is the volume of the accumulated chamber
(m3), and S the area of the accumulated chamber (m2).
 Shimo,70) Saegusa71) and Hosoda 72, 73) used a large area
16,
ZnS(Ag) scintillation (30 cm × 40 cm) to measure radon
(222Rn) and thoron (220Rn) exhalation rate from the sample s
surface simultaneously. The system is based on counting alpha
particles emitted from radon and its daughters and thoron and
its daughters which will hit the scintillation area and produce
pulsing light. This light will incident on photomultiplier tube
and could be counted. The exhalation rate can be calculated
from the device by reading value and its calibration factor.
4.1.2 Measuring radon exhalation rate by using
Charcoal method.
 There are various reports about different techniques using
active charcoal as radon monitors. The active charcoal is
exposed to radon for a certain time. During this charcoal
adsorbs radon gas and then the gamma rays of radon progenies
(214Pb and 214Bi), can be detected by gamma spectroscopy
~
device. 74 77) Radon gas is directly adsorbed on a layer of
granular active charcoal distributed over the ground surface,
and then charcoal is subjected to γ–ray spectroscopy detector
to estimate the amount of adsorbed radon gas.6, 8, 9, 35, 40, 74, 78, 79)
 This method has some advantages i.e. radon exhalation rate
can be measured easily, the sampling procedures are simple,
the charcoal is cheap and can be transported anywhere. It
has some disadvantages such as the variation of radon can
not be appeared because the measurement result is strongly
depended only on the last period. Some amount of adsorbed
radon will be lost during the period between exposure time
and the measuring time due to the decay before the γ–ray
spectroscopy measurement.
 To overcome the disadvantages of charcoal method, an
integrating passive radon dosimeter (combining activated
charcoal with thermoluminescent dosimeter, TLD in one
device) was used to measure radon concentration. When TLD
was put inside charcoal container, it can detect all β particles
emitted from RaB (214Pb) and RaC (214Bi) with the daughters
of adsorbed radon. By this way, the mean value of radon over
long time can be measured as well as the time period between
exposing and measuring with γ–ray spectroscopy.80)
 The advantages of this method are
1. The materials used are reusable, inexpensive, and can be
sent by post,
2. The most useable exposure time is about a week and this
makes it possible to do large scale surveys in a limited
time,
3. The main advantage of this method, it has a better
detection limit and less uncertainty than γ– ray
Table 3　Comparison between γ count and TLD methods for the measurement of radon concentration
Dosimeter Exposure Radon concentration
Number history measured by γ ray
spectroscopy (Bq m–3)
1 High + low (53±2.0)×10 1
2 Low + high (85±3.0)×101
spectroscopy. These uncertainties can be checked as the
following.
 One dosimeter was exposed to radon concentrations of
–
850 Bq m 3 for two days followed by two days exposure of
–3 –
450 Bq m and another dosimeter was exposed to 450 Bq m 3
, –3
for two days followed by two days exposure to 850 Bq m .
The results are shown in Table 3. From the result it is clear
that TLD method gave correct results within the statistical
uncertainties.80) The disadvantage of this method is only not
suitable for very low concentration of radon.
4.1.3 Measuring radon exhalation rate using Solid
State Nuclear Track Detectors.
 Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors (SSNTDs) provide the
most common method of radon detection all over the world.
They are integrating devices, i.e. if the radon concentration
was low, it can be simply left them in the site for a long time
to accumulate sufficient counts.54, 81) When alpha particle (heavy
charged radiation) produced from the decay of radon, it hits or
bombards SSNTDs. Then, it will react with detector and lost
its energy during its passage into SSNTDs producing a very
narrow latent track (30–100Å). This latent track can be seen
directly with electronic microscope. It can be seen also under
optical microscope after a chemical process to enlarge its size
call chemical etching process.82)
 There are many techniques used SSNTDs to measure
radon exhalation rate. One of these techniques is cup or can
technique. This technique can be described as the following.
The prepared sample is put into the cup at its bottom and
SSNTDs are fixed at its top. The cup is completely sealed from
the outside air. The cup is left at room temperature for one
month to achieve the radioactive equilibrium between radium
and radon radionuclides. During this time α–particles will be
registered into SSNTDs. Then SSNTDs etched in chemical
solution and counted under optical microscope.14, 34, 43, 83~89) The
activity concentration of radon X(t) in the air volume of the
cup as a function of time (t) can be calculated from the track
density and the conversion factor of SSNTDs. The exhalation
rate can be calculated from Eq. (18) taken in account that there
is back diffusion.19, 90)
∫X(t)dt = V(β+λ) (t– (1–e
t
SE
–(β+λ)t
)/(β+λ)) (18)
0
Where, X(t) is the radon concentration at time t (Bq m 3), E
–
– –
is the radon exhalation rate (Bq m 2 s 1), S the surface area
(m ), V is the air or empty volume (m ), β , λ are the back–
2 3
–
diffusion factor and decay constants (s 1), and t is the exposure
time (s).
 This technique has many advantages i.e. the latent tracks
count is permanent, can be counted at any time, it is cheap,
Radon concentration Real radon
measured by TLD concentration
(Bq m–3) (Bq m–3)
(60±3.0)×10 1
(65±6.0)×101
(64±3.0)×101 (65±6.0)×101
 Radon Migration Process and Its Influence Factors; Review
easy to handle, the detectors are so small that can be posted
to any place, SSNTDs have high sensitivity to α particles.
However, it has also disadvantages such as back–diffusion of
radon gas, it can be avoided by set up the chamber volume ten
times greater than sample volume,48) leakage of radon gas from
the cups, and the saturation limit of SSNTDs (SSNTDs can
not be used to measure high radon exhalation rate).
 To overcome the saturation limit of SSNTDs disadvantage
another technique will use a combination of SSNTDs and TLD
(thermoluminescent) together in the diffusion cup to measure
radon isotopes exhalation rate. This technique is combining
of SSNTDs (LR–115) and thermoluminescent detector into
the filter cup.91) By this technique, high radon concentration,
–
10–100 MBq m 3, can be measured. The arrangement of this
technique is put SSNTDs at the center of the top and TLD at
the sides.
4.1.4 Measurement of radon exhalation rate using
Electrostatic method.
 Since radon and thoron daughters ( 218Po and 216Po) are
formed as positive ions by alpha decay, it is possible to collect
all these nuclides if we applied an electric field between two
electrodes that contains the radon and thoron gases in between.
Folkerts58) and Aldenkamp62) used that idea to measure radon
and thoron exhalation rate and diffusion coefficient from
building materials. The electrodes of the electric field are made
of metallic hemisphere and grid at the bottom of hemisphere
which are both at positive high voltage and the surface barrier
detector at earth potential. When exhaled radon and thoron
atoms reach and decay within the chamber, a proportion of
the first decay products will be deposited on the detector.
Consequently, the radon and thoron exhalation will be
measured from the α–spectra of their progeny. The diffusion
coefficient is measured also by using the same technique.
 The radon and thoron exhalation rate measurements were
performed with Electrostatic–radon–sampler device (ERS–2
Tracer lab company, Germany). The ERS–2 operates with
an Alpha–spectroscopy detector and mulitichannel analyzer
(MCA) with 256 channels.92) To measure radon or thoron
exhalation rate, ERS–2 should be placed on the material which
will be investigated. The calculation of the exhalation rate can
be performed by using the tracer laboratory spectrum software.
 It is well known that radon and thoron progeny are in the
form of positive ions right after their alpha decay process. If
an appropriate electric field is applied between a wall and a
silicon detector, the positive ions will be accumulated directly
on the radiation sensitive electrode of Si detector, and a
real time alpha spectroscopy is made. By this technique the
exhalation rate of radon and thoron, can be measured1.2, 93)
 The use of a semiconductor detector allows the detection
and discrimination of electrical pulses generated by α
–particles from the four radioisotopes of polonium with
energies of 6.0, 6.7, 7.7 and 8.8 MeV respectively. In this way,
it is possible to use only the 218Po peak for 222Rn and 216Po for
220
Rn, obtaining a rapid equilibrium between polonium and
radon atoms. In such a case, the equilibrium between 218Po and
222
Rn is achieved in about 15 min (about five times the half–life
of 218Po), and between 216Po and 220Rn in a few seconds. In this
225
way it is possible to measure radon and thoron concentrations
and consequently their exhalation can be calculated easily,
if the chamber calibration factor polonium isotopes were
obtained. The radon exhalation rate from soil samples were
measured by this method from Eq. (19)
E
A(t) = (1–exp (– (λ+λ`)t)) (19)
(λ+λ`)V
–
Where, A(t) is the radon concentration (Bq m 3) which came
from α–count of 218Po, and the calibration factor of it in the
chamber, E is radon exhalation rate (Bq m 2 s 1). λ ,λ` are the
– –
radon decay constant and the other decay like back–diffusion
–
and radon leakage from the chamber (s 1), V is the chamber
volume (m3), and the t is the exposure time (s).
4.2 The factors affecting the exhalation process
 The exhalation process from materials was influenced by
many factors. These factors divided into intrinsic factors
(factors related to the sample properties itself), and extrinsic
factors (outside medium properties). The intrinsic factors are
summarized as grain size, soil temperature, porosity, moisture
content, and the internal pressure gradient. The extrinsic
factors are summarized as the air pressure, temperature,
relative humidity, and the rainfall amount. We will discuss the
effect of each factor on radon exhalation rate in details.
4.2.1 Influencing factors on exhalation rate
 The intrinsic factors are studied by many scientists to obtain
the relation between them and the exhalation process.
4.2.1.1 Water content
 S t r o n g and L e v in s , 27) S t r a n d e n 28) and M e g u mi and
M amuro 35) have reported that the exhalation rate from
materials increases, when water content in the sample
increased until it reached at a certain saturation level then
it decreases to level comparable with the exhalation from
dry sample even the moisture still increasing. Schery5) and
Hosoda16) estimated that radon exhalation rate, at dry soil with
a very little amount of water content (nearly 0%), increases
smoothly with increase water content until it reached 8%.
Then the exhalation rate will decrease with increase of water
content. This can be explained when water content completely
filled the pore space, radon isotopes must diffuse through it.
The diffusion coefficient of water is much lower than for air,
and the increasing of direct recoil fraction by decrease the
adsorption of gas on the grain surface is not compensated in
this reduction.28, 94)
4.2.1.2 The porosity
 The radon exhalation rate increases steadily with increasing
porosity of the medium. This can be explained as, at low
porosity, soil grains are closed to each other. Hence radon
atoms in the pore space beneath the surface find their path to
the atmosphere was closed with adjusted grain, which could be
air, if the porosity increased so exhalation rate increased.23, 64, 73)
4.2.1.3 The grain size
 The variation of the grain size shows inversely proportional
with the radon exhalation rate i.e. when the grain size increase the
radon exhalation rate will decrease. This may be due to a decrease
in the ratio of the grain surface area to its volume and this will
cause a decrease in the radon emanation coefficient.12, 35, 64, 73)
226 Nabil M. Hassan, Masahiro Hosoda, Tetsuo Ishikawa, Atsuyuki Sorimachi, Sarata K. Sahoo, Shinji Tokonami and Masahiro Fukushi

4.2.1.4 Soil temperature
 The dependence of radon exhalation rate on the soil
temperature was estimated by many investigators. 5, 28, 65)
When the soil temperature increased, the exhalation rate will
increase. This is because the thermal expansion of soil air will
enhance the molecular diffusion coefficient of radon. Also
by increasing the temperature the adsorbed amount of gas on
the solid grain soil will decrease. Consequently, the radon
exhalation rate will be increased as well.
4.2.1.5 The pressure difference
 The pressure difference (the ground surface pressure and
pressure distribution in the soil) has played an important
role in radon transport from the soil (radon exhalation rate).
Negative pressure difference (the ground surface pressure
less than the deep soil pressure) leads to increase radon
concentration in the layers near the ground surface because
rich air is drawn up from deeper layer (the distributed radon
concentration is higher in deeper layer than that near to the
ground surface) to upper layer. Therefore radon exhalation
rate will increase smoothly. On the other hand, the positive
pressure difference will be occurred in oppositely way.5, 37, 50, 65)
4.2.2 The sample geometry affects the exhalation
process
 As radon and thoron exhalation rate was affected by the
internal prosperities of the sample, it is also influenced by the
sample geometries (area, volume, mass, and the sample layers
thickness). The exhalation rate increased as the volume, mass,
and sample layers thickness increased rather than the surface
area.95)
 Jonassen95) estimated the relation between radon exhalation
rate and the phosphate layer thickness. The exhalation rate
increased as the thickness increased until reached maximum
value at thickness 1.5 – 2.0 m and still constant after this
thickness. This may be due to the diffusion length of radon
in phosphate layer is 0.8 m.95) So this may be after 1.5–2.0 m
thickness radon can not diffuse from the sample layers.
4.2.3 The extrinsic factors
 The extrinsic factors are the meteorological parameters

Table 4　Radon exhalation rate from different rocks samples

Material The country produced or used Exhalation rate
(mBq m–2 s–1)
Phosphogypsum48) Belgium 43×10–2
Sediment rocks7) Bangladesh (1.3 – 8.0)×101
Granite98) Taiwan (2.0 – 29)×10–2
Granite68) China, Hong Kong (1.1 – 37)×10–1
Granite87) Saudi Arabia (1.0 – 18)×10–1
Granite99) Egypt (1.0 – 19)×10–2

Table 5　The variation of measured radon exhalation rate from different soil samples
Material The country produced or used Exhalation rate
(mBq m–2 s–1)
Soil100) The moon surface 4.5×10–1
Soil101)
Mean world value 1.6 ×101
Soil96)
Osaka, Japan 2.0 ×10–3
Soil36)
Island of Hawaii (25 ± 6.3) ×10–2
Soil36)
Island of Hawaii (17 ± 4.0) ×10–2
Soil35)
Japan (4.0 – 30) ×10–2
Soil102) Mean world value (1.5 – 2.3) ×101
Soil37) New Mexico (32 ± 4.1) ×100
Soil93) Germany (0.20 – 10) ×101
Soil 1)
World wide value (2.0 – 70) ×100
Soil 5)
Australia (22 ± 5.0) ×100
Soil103)
North America (4.0 – 4.8) ×101
Soil104) France (0.001 – 50) ×103
Soil62) Netherlands (45 ± 2.2) ×10–2
Soil39)
Slovenia 2.0 ×101
Soil12)
Italy (0.20 – 16) ×100
Soil77)
Spain (38 ± 2.0) ×100
Soil 7)
Bangladesh 2.6 ×101
Soil41) Bangladesh (29 ± 15) ×100
Soil105) Egypt (3.9 – 17) ×100
Soil8) Slovenia (1.1 – 45) ×101
Soil72)
Japan (1.5 – 34) ×101
Soil89)
Turkey 41 ×10–2
 Radon Migration Process and Its Influence Factors; Review 227

studied by many researchers and the relation between them
and radon exhalation rate was obtained. Radon exhalation rate
increases with increase wind velocity. If the wind velocity up
–
to 7 m s 1, it roughly enhanced the exhalation rate by 15%.37, 65)
,
Radon exhalation rate didn t show significant change with
light rainfall (13 mm) but it decreased dramatically with heavy
rainfall (93 mm) and remains low for several days after heavy
rainfall. On the other hand thonon exhalation rate is decreased
at light rainfall and may be stopped at heavy rainfall.5, 65, 96)
 G aravaglia 97) estimated that the external temperature
(atmosphere temperature) is directly correlated with radon
exhalation rate. When the external temperature is less than the
soil temperature, the exhalation rate is directly correlated with
the soil temperature, otherwise, when the external temperature
is greater than the soil temperature, air (radon) will be flowed
from soil to outside atmosphere.
4.3 The summary of previous data of exhalation process
 The summarization of the variation of radon exhalation
rate due to the variation of samples types (i.e. rocks, soils,
building material and uranium mining) and their different
origin form various countries has been tabulated (Table 4–8).
– –
The exhalation rate varied from 0.11 to 80 mBq m 2 s 1 for rocks,
–3 – –
from 2.0×10 to 5.0×104 mBq m 2 s 1 for soils, and from 4.0×
– – –
10 3 to 5.0×101 mBq m 2 s 1 for building materials.

Table 6　The variation of radon exhalation rate from different building materials
Exhalation rate
Material The country produced or used
(mBq m–2 s–1)
Building materials58)
Germany (0.50 – 50) ×100
Building materials85)
Egypt (0.11 – 7.5) ×100
Building materials86) India (1.0 – 4.0) ×10–2
Concrete 98)
Taiwan (6.0 – 16) ×10–1
Concrete 47)
Netherlands (11±0.56) ×100
Concrete 106)
U.S.A. (1.4 – 7.9) ×100
Concrete 68)
Hong Kong, China (3.8 – 27) ×100
Concrete 89)
Turkey (0.4 – 11) ×10–2
Cement47) Netherlands (9.7±14) ×100
Cement14) Egypt (7.8 – 21) ×10–1

Table 7　The variation of radon exhalation rate from uranium tailings mines
Exhalation rate
Material The country produced or used
(mBq m–2 s–1)
Uranium tailings27)
Australia, Jabiluka 10 ×103
Uranium tailings 6)
U.S.A. 74 ×101
Uranium tailings77) Spain (17 ± 0.40) ×102
Uranium mine9) Australia 65 ×102

Table 8　The variation of radon mass exhalation rate from different samples
Mass exhalation
Material The country produced or used
Rate (mBq kg–1 h–1)
Sediment rocks7) Bangladesh (3.2 – 21) ×101
Granite 25)
Japan, Misasa 20 ×102
Granite 25)
Austria, Badgastein 10 ×102
Soil46) San Jose, U.S.A. 78 ×100
Soil28) Norway 91 ×102
Soil1) World wide value (1.9 – 38) ×100
Soil29)
Finland (5.3 – 13) ×101
Soil41)
Bangladesh (76 ± 40) ×100
Soil 7)
Bangladesh 61 ×100
Concrete13) U.S.A. 28 ×100
Concrete28) Norway 85 ×100
Concrete109) Denmark 17 ×100
Bricks 11)
Greek, Attica (1.3 – 35) ×100
Cement 15)
Israel (1.0 – 5.0) ×10–1
Cement 18)
Turkey (0.14 – 10) ×101
Building materials23) South Korea (0.60 – 24) ×101
Building materials24) India (0.30 – 88) ×100
228 Nabil M. Hassan, Masahiro Hosoda, Tetsuo Ishikawa, Atsuyuki Sorimachi, Sarata K. Sahoo, Shinji Tokonami and Masahiro Fukushi
V CONCLUSION
 Since radon and their progenies contribute with greater
than 50 % of radiation dose received from natural and man
made radiation sources,66) it is important to understand the
generation process of radon from different materials, their
migration from this material and finally their entering process
into outdoor atmosphere and indoor to our houses and our
working places. Radon problem needs so much effort to solve,
not only it is scientifically challenging but also due to its
potential relevance to the quality of human life. Although the
public interest in this problem is not as much as might be, a lot
of efforts of many scientists all over the world have been done
to complete characterize indoor radon concentrations and to
reduce excessive level.
 This paper reviews the emanation coefficient, diffusion
coefficient, and exhalation rate, and the factors that control
the rate at which radon isotopes can enter atmosphere. The
emanation coefficient has been ranged from 2.1 to 32% for
rocks, from 0.14 to 80% for soil, and from 0.10 to 58% for
building materials, respectively. The effective diffusion
coefficient of some materials is summarized and it is varied
– – –
from 0.10×10 8 cm2 s 1 for radon proof barriers to 0.12 cm2 s 1
for air. The exhalation rate of radon varied from 0.11 to 80 mBq
– – – – –
m 2 s 1 for rocks, from 2.0×10 3 to 5.0×104 mBq m 2 s 1 for
–3 1 –2 –1
soils, and from 4.0×10 to 5.0×10 mBq m s for building
materials, respectively. Also, the methods used to measure
emanation coefficient, diffusion coefficient and exhalation rate
are reviewed in this paper. Moreover emanation coefficient and
exhalation rate of radon was found to be increased smoothly
as water content reached a threshold level of water saturation
in material, then they decreased to less than their values in
case of dry situation whereas diffusion coefficient decrease
with increasing of water content. Emanation coefficient and
exhalation rate of radon increase smoothly with increasing
in temperature and decreasing in material grain size while
diffusion coefficient decreases with decreasing of grain size.
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Nabil Mohammed Hassan
Mr. Nabil H assan was born in Zagazig,
Egypt. Doctoral student of Tokyo Metro
politan University (Prof. Fukushi Lab.)
and National Institute of Radiological
Sciences (Prof. Tokonami Lab.). Specialty;
Environmental radiation/radioactivity
measurement (mainly: radon and thoron).
,
Master s degree in environment radiation physics from
Zagazig University.
E–mail: hassan@fml.nirs.go.jp