Radon gas measurement in vegetable and fruit samples taken from Kahramanmaras Province of Turkey

This study aims to determine the radon concentration, inhalation rate, effective radium content, and annual effective dose in vegetable and fruit samples in Kahramanmaras city. For this purpose, a total of 17 vegetable and fruit samples were collected from 10 different places in Kahramanmaras. Radon concentrations, inhalation rates, and effective radium content of these vegetable and fruit samples were determined using a CR-39 passive trace detector. Radon concentration, inhalation rates, effective radium content, and annual effective dose in fruit and vegetable samples range from 94.31 ± 7.74  to 341.29 ± 37.20 Bq/m3, 12.67 ± 1.04  to 45.82 ± 4.98 mBq/m2h, 8.97 ± 0.82 to 32.45 ± 3.32 Bq/kg, and 2.38 ± 0.09 to 8.61 ± 0.58 mSv/y, respectively. These values have been compared with the safe limit values recommended by the national and international commissions. As a result, it has been determined that these values are well below the safe limit value (400 Bq/m3) recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEA). However, radon activity concentration values of 9 samples (samples numbers: 4, 8, 10, 12, 13,14,15,16, and 17) are above the limit values recommended by EPA (190 Bq/m3). In addition, an excellent correlation was found between radon concentration, effective radium content, and radon inhalation rates (R2 = 0.99).