Radiation Measurements, Vol. 28, Not I-6, pp.

591-594, 1997
Pergamon O 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd
Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
1350-4487/97 $17.00 + 0.00
PII: S 1350-4487(97)00146-7

R A D O N M E A S U R E M E N T S IN D I F F E R E N T T Y P E S O F
N A T U R A L W A T E R S IN J O R D A N

B. A. AL-BATAINA, A.M. ISMAIL, M.K. KULLAB, K.M. ABUMURAD

ABSTRACT
Results on radon (~Rn) conomtration for different natural water resources in Jordan,
using CR-39 plastic detectors are presented. The activity density of 222Rn ranges from
3.3-10.7 Bq/l (cold spring water), 3.2-5.5 Bq/1 (hot spring water), 3.1-5.7 Bq/l (well
water), 2.5-4.7 Bq/l (drinking water) and 4.3-6.3 Bq/1 (sea water). Thus, no unusual
radon levels in Jordanian water were observed.

KEYWORDS
Radon; water resources; closed can technique; SSNTD's; dosimeter; aquifer; activity density.

INTRODUCTION
Due to its long half-life time relative to other isotopes, radon ( 222Rn, Tt/2 = 3.82 d) which is a
descendent of 23SU is considered to be the most significant isotope of radon problem in the
environmental studies. Trace particles of 238Uare found in most natural rocks. The acidic magmatic
rocks such as granite contain, in general, more radioactive elements than sedimentary rocks, and
the latter contain more than basic magmatic rocks such as basalt. Uranium has affinity to some
materials such as phosphates, coal, oil shale etc. Jordan has rich phosphate deposits and thus it is
likely to have high values of uranium and radon. Once radon is formed, a proportion of it will escape
from its immediate environment into air or water-filled pore-spaces via the process of alpha recoil
from its parent, 226Ra, (Tanuer, 1964). Water which is percolating and flowing through pores of
the soil and rocks dissolves radioactive elements, especially radium and radon out of these rocks.
Radon is subsequently diffused or transported with water, which becomes radioactive. Radon in
water presents a dual pathway for exposure of individuals: by ingestion from direct water
consumption, and by inhalation exposure when radon emanates from water. The dose to the
respiratory system outweighs the dose to the digestion system (Cross et al., 1985).

Activities of Z~2Rn in natural water are usually measured by different techniques such as liquid
scintillation counter, ionization chamber and gamma ray spectrometry. However, the results
obtained by these methods are not always accurate (Kenshuh et al., 1991). This study of radon
activity in natural waters is being carried out for the first time in Jordan by using super grade
quality of CR=39 solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTD's), which has proved to be a very
economical and reliable method. These detectors have a unique registration sensitivity for alpha
particles with energies of ~100 keV.

EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUE
In this work, a variety of water samples from different locations of Jordan were collected and
analyzed by using closed can technique; details about sites' locations are shown in Table 1. Water
samples were taken in clean plastic bottles from a depth of 0.5 m under the surface of the water
whenever possible. In order to prevent radon leakage, the bottles were closed tightly at the site and

591
592 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 18TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
carried gently to minimize degassing. 50 g samples of water from each bottle were poured into plastic
cups. Each sample cup was covered and glued tightly by an inverted passive radon dosimeter cup,
see Figure I. A circular hole was made in the dosimeter lid, and covered by a piece of sponge with
dimensions 5 cm x 5 cm x 0.5 cm glued onto the interior surface of the lid. This configuration was
necessary to maintain the same calibration conditions, also to make sure that thoron (22°Rn, Ttr2
= 55.6 s) cannot reach the detector and to minimize the evaporation from water samples. Atter an
exposure time of 90 days, the dosimeter cups were separated from the sample cups. Fortunately
no water droplets were formed on the surface of the detectors. The detectors were removed and
chemically etched, using a 30% solution of KOH at a temperature of 70 ° C ± 0.1 ° C for nine
hours. An optical microscope with a magnification of 150x was used to count the number of tracks
per cm 2 in each detector. To relate the density of recorded tracks to radon concentration the
dosimeters were previously calibrated in the School of Physics and Space Research at Birmingham
University, U. K. During the calibration process, the dosimeters were placed inside radon chamber
with concentration of 90 kBq.m "3 and an exposure time of 48 hours. Each dosimeter contained two
pieces of CR-39 detectors fixed at its bottom.

Cr-39

h
Sponge

LI
Figure 1. Configuration of the sealed-can technique used in the experiment.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

CotoP
Co - - - (1)
Pot

where Co is the radon activity concentration of the calibration chamber, to is the calibration exposure
time, Po is the surface density of tracks on the calibrated dete~ors, p is the measured surface density
of tracks on the exposed detectors and t is the exposure time (2160 h) of our samples.

The radon activity density in water C~ was calculated by using a model proposed by Somogyi
(Somogyi et el., 1986). According to this model, the number of radon atoms exhaled from the sample
surface is equal to the number of radon atoms in the cart air above the water sample multiplied by the
probability of decay. In short,

C~ = A Cah t (2)
L
 PROCEEDINGS O F T H E 18TH I N T E R N A T I O N A L CONFERENCE 593

where ~ is the decay constant of 222Rn , h is the distance from the surface of water in the sample cup
to the detector, t is the exposure time of the sample and L is the depth of sample.

Table 1 shows the results of radon concentration levels for different water samples. For cold spring
water (CSW), the concentration levels range from 3.3 to 10.7 Bq/l with an average of 5.4 + 0.8 Bq/l.
In most of these samples the radon concentration was below this average value. One of these samples
(CSWS) obtained from Madaba basin, 30 km south of Amman, has a relatively low radon
concentration. The main aquifer in this area is the Kurnub sandstone (Lower Cretaceous) partially
interconnected with the underlying sandstone of Triassic and Cambrian age. This aquifer contains
plant remains and black shale combined with relatively high concentrations of uranium and thorium,
which may be dissolved by water flowing through these beds. The rest of cold water samples were
originated from lrbid basin in the north part of Jordan. This basin belongs to Wadi es Sir-Amman
Formation. These formations are mainly composed of limestone, chert, phosphate and oil shale. They
are hydraulically interconnected forming one aquifer. This is either exposed at the surface or
confined by the overlying marly Muwaqqar Formation. The samples CSW1 and CSW2 have
relatively high radon concentrations. This may be attributed to the presence of oil shale beds in the
Muwaqqar Formation.
In hot water samples (HSW), the radon concentration levels range from 3.2 to 5.5 Bq/l with an
average of 3.8 + 0.5 Bq/l. There is no significant difference in the radon levels between samples
from different basins. All samples have relatively low radon concentration. This may be due to the
decrease of radon solubility as temperature increases and/or due to the high sulphate content of hot
water which cause precipitation of radium before emerging into these hot springs. Moreover, the
north part of lrbid basin has been affected by volcanic activity in the Pliocene and Pleistocene eras,
causing changes in the physical and chemical properties of the ground water in this area.

Samples collected from wells (WW) have radon concentration levels ranged between 3.1 and 5.7 Bq/l
with an average of 4.5 _+ 0.8 Bq/l. The sample WW3 which was obtained from a depth of 257m has
radon concentration higher than the average by about 25%. This may be due to a thick phosphate
beds which are almost located at the bottom of the well, while the sample WW4 obtained from a
deeper part of the aquifer at a depth of 750 m shows a lower radon concentration than the average.
For sea water samples (SW), the Dead Sea water (SW2) has a noticeable high radon level. This may
be due to high salinity and elevated chlorine concentrations which help in retaining radium in water.
Furthermore, drinking tap water samples (DTW) have almost similar radon levels even though they
were collected from different basins.

CONCLUSION
In this study, radon levels in different natural water samples from various basins in Jordan are
reported. There are no significant variations in radon levels among the different areas. The cold
spring water is characterized by the highest average of radon levels (5.4 Bq/l), while the drinking tap
water is characterized by the lowest one (3.7 Bq/l). The overall average of radon levels in Jordanian
natural waters is 4.5 + 0.9 Bq/l, which is about 25% of the internationally acceptable radon level in
water.

Acknowledgement-Theauthors wish to express their gratitude to Dr. S. Durrani for helpful discussions and to
his laboratory in Birmingham University for providing calibration facilities.
594 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 18TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Table I. Radon concentration in diffc~ont types ofnatural water in Jordan.

Sample Location Ground water basin Radon conc. Average radon conc. Temperature
Code (Bq/l) (Bq/l) oC

CSWI Rahtx',b Irbid 10.7 26

CSW2 Suk~ Irbid 7.7 23

CSW3 Shdaa Irbid 4.9 22

CSW4 Abdda Irbid 3.6 5.4 + 0.8 21

CSW5 Altrab Irbid 4.4 24

CSW6 Hobras Irbid 4.4 22

CSW7 Gweelba Irbid 3.9 23

CSW8 Hhcanara Madaba 3.3 21

HSWI Al-hima Irbid 3.3 40

HSW2 Al-,,Jaoneh Irbid 3.5 42

HSW3 Ma'm..daalal Madaba 3.2 45

HSW4 Ma'in-magara Madaba 3.7 3.8 + 0.5 44

HSW5 Ma'm-pool Madaba 4.1 48

HSW6 Zarah 1 Dead Sea a~a 3.5 30

HSW7 Zarah 2 Dead Sea area 5.5 31

WWI Arab valley Irbid 4.7 30

WW2 Arab valley lrbid 4.8 32

WW3 Arab valley Irbid 5.7 4.5:1:0.8 28

WW4 Arab valley. Lrbid 3.1 40

WW5 Arab valley Irbid 4.0 26

SW1 Arab Dam Irbid 4.7 23

SW2 Dead Sea Dead Sea 6.3 5.1 ± 0.9 28

SW3 Aqaba G'ulf Aqaba 4.3 33

DTWI Arab Valley Irbid 4.7 25

DTW2 Yarmtxtk Univ. Ixbid 2.5 20

DTW3 Zarqa Ma'in Madaba 2.9 3.7 ± 0.8 22

DTW4 Sarah Al-kcrak 4.1 22

DTW5 Al-hasa T.,tt",flah 4.4 22

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