A large and feasible national survey representative of population exposure to outdoor gamma radiation in urban areas
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22073245 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Carmela Carpentieri (corresponding author), Andrea Maiorana (corresponding author), Marco Ampollini, Sara Antignani (0000-0002-9404-5407), Mario Caprio, Vinicio Carelli (Telecom Italia (Italy)), Carlo Cordedda (Telecom Italia (Italy)), Christian Di Carlo (0000-0002-6629-7658), Francesco Bochicchio (0000-0003-1291-3037) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Pages | 1388783-1388783 |
| Publication date | 2024-05-30 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Frontiers in Public Health (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2296-2565 • E-ISSN: 2296-2565 |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH) |
| DOI | 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1388783 |
| PMID | 38903588 |
| OpenAlex | W4399160977 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 46 |
Background: Although data on outdoor gamma radiation are available for many countries, they have generally been obtained with measurements performed in undisturbed environments instead of in urban areas where most of the population lives. Only one large national survey, with on-site measurements in urban areas, has been identified worldwide, probably due to high costs (e.g., personnel and instrumentation) and difficulties in selecting measuring points. Methods: A campaign of outdoor gamma radiation measurements has been carried out in the entire Italian territory. All measurement points were selected at the infrastructures of an Italian telecommunications company as representatives of all the possible situations of outdoor exposure to gamma radiation for population in urban areas. Ten replicates of portable gamma (X) detectors carried out all the measurements. Results: for 21 regions and 107 provinces, respectively. The average variability at the municipal level, in terms of the coefficient of variation (CV) is 21%, ranging from 3 to 84%. The impact of land coverage and the distance from a building on the outdoor gamma radiation level was assessed with complementary measurements, leading to differences ranging from -40 to 50% and to 50%, respectively. Conclusion: A representative campaign of outdoor gamma dose rate measurements has been performed in Italy, only in urban areas, to assess the exposure effect due to outdoor gamma radiation on the population. It is the largest national campaign in urban areas worldwide, with a total of 3,876 on-site measurements. The land coverage and the distance from surrounding buildings were recognized to strongly affect outdoor gamma radiation levels, leading to high variability within small areas. The collaboration with a company that owns a network of facilities on a national territory as dense as the residing population made this survey feasible and affordable. Other countries might adopt this methodology to conduct national surveys in urban environments
Background radiation · Environmental health · Geography · Nuclear medicine · Physical geography · Physics · Population · Radiation monitoring · Ranging · Remote sensing · Statistics · Environmental Science · Mathematics · Medicine · Radiation Dose and Imaging · Radioactive contamination and transfer · Radioactivity and Radon Measurements · Radiation
| Highly cited | No |
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