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Uranium in Soil and Building Material Individual Dose Calculator

(last updated 16 Jun 2011)
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Calculate the radiation dose and risk for an individual living on soil contaminated from uranium and/or in a home built from such contaminated material (residential exposure scenario).

Enter data and parameters, and click the "Calculate" button below. HELP new window

Numbers can be entered in exponential notation: 5 · 10-6 = 5e-6

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        Input Data    
Contaminant concentration in soil

  
Activity concentrations
Unit:   pCi/g     Bq/g
Activity concentrations in soil
U-238 Series
U-238 +D
U-234
Th-230
Ra-226 +D
Pb-210 +D 		U-235 Series
U-235 +D
Pa-231
Ac-227 +D

Activity concentrations in soil are determined according to contaminant concentration entry, but can also be entered independently
Activity concentration in building material

U-238 Series
Ra-226 +D
+D = short-lived decay products assumed to be in equilibrium

        HELP new window

Results

    Exposure Parameters    
General     HELP new window
ED (exposure duration) yr
EF (exposure frequency) d/yr
ETo (outdoor exposure time fraction) unitless
ETi (indoor exposure time fraction) unitless
Ingestion of Radionuclides in Soil     HELP new window
Age Adjusted
 IRa (adult soil ingestion rate) mg/d
IRc (child soil ingestion rate) mg/d
EDc (child exposure duration) yr (remainder = adult)
IRs (soil ingestion rate) mg/d   1)
1) calculated from IRa, IRc, EDc, and ED
Adult Only
 IR s (soil ingestion rate) mg/d
Inhalation of Radionuclides in Fugitive Dusts Emitted from Soil     HELP new window
IRi (air inhalation rate) m3/d
Ingestion of Homegrown Produce Grown in Soil     HELP new window
IRvf (vegetable and fruit ingestion rate) kg/year
IRlv (leafy vegetables ingestion rate) kg/year
CPF (contaminated plant fraction from the site) unitless
Ingestion of groundwater contaminated from radionuclides in soil     HELP new window
IRw (drinking water intake rate) L/d

    Site Parameters    
General     HELP new window
Surface area

ACF (area correction factor for gamma radiation) unitless   2)
V (fraction of vegetative cover) unitless
ds (average source depth) m

2) looked up from Surface Area
Soil             HELP new window
rhob (dry soil bulk density) kg/L
epsilon (total soil porosity) Lpore/Lsoil
thetaw (water-filled soil porosity) Lwater/Lsoil
f (radon emanation fraction from soil) unitless
De (soil effective radon diffusion coeff.) m2/s   3)

3) calculated from epsilon and thetaw
Building Material             HELP new window
rhom (material density) kg/L
epsilonm (total material porosity) Lpore/Lmatl
fm (radon emanation fraction from material) unitless
De_m (material effective radon diffusion coeff.) m2/s
Building     HELP new window
DFi (indoor dust dilution factor) unitless
GSF (indoor gamma shielding factor) unitless
FDF (fraction of radon diffusing through floor) unitless
FAF (ratio of radon advection to diffusion through floor) unitless   4)
BRH (building room height) m
WAF (ratio of contaminated room surface area to floor surface area) unitless
dw (wall thickness) m
lambdaV (building air exchange rate) per hour
Fi (indoor radon progeny equilibrium factor)

4) affected by soil type initialization
Climate     HELP new window
City, State (Climatic Zone) external link
Q/C (inverse of the mean conc. at the center of square source) g/m2-s per kg/m3   5)
Um (mean annual windspeed) m/s   6)
Ut (equivalent threshold value of windspeed at 7 m) m/s
Fo (outdoor radon progeny equilibrium factor)

5) looked up from City/Climate and Surface Area
6) looked up from City/Climate
Groundwater     HELP new window
METHOD 1
Partitioning Equation
for Migration to Ground Water

DF (dilution factor) unitless

Kd (soil-water partition coefficient) L/kg:
   
Lead: Radium:
Thorium: Uranium:
Actinium: Protactinium:
Elements without default value are only considered, if site-specific Kd values are entered
METHOD 2
Mass-Limit Equation
for Migration to Ground Water

This method only works if site-specific values are entered for all of these parameters plus for ds in the General Site Parameters section.

I (Infiltration Rate) m/yr
K (aquifer hydraulic conductivity) m/yr
i (hydraulic gradient) m/m
L (source length parallel to ground water flow) m
da (aquifer thickness) m

> See also:

 

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