Internal dose estimation for residents due to radon released from an active volcano

• Project/Area Number: 15K08766
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Hygiene and public health
• Research Institution: Hirosaki University
• Principal Investigator: Hosoda Masahiro 弘前大学, 保健学研究科, 講師 (30457832)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): AKIBA Suminori 鹿児島大学, 名誉教授 (50145554) ; FURUKAWA Masahide 琉球大学, 理学部, 教授 (40238671) ; TOKONAMI Shinji 弘前大学, 被ばく医療総合研究所, 教授 (80247254) ; AKATA Naofumi 核融合科学研究所, ヘリカル研究部, 准教授 (10715478) ; IWAOKA Kazuki 弘前大学, 被ばく医療総合研究所, 助教 (70466051)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2017)
• Budget Amount: ¥5,070,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,170,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥520,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥120,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥2,860,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥660,000)
• Keywords: ラドン / 桜島 / 火山活動 / 線量評価 / 肺がん / 気象観測 / 水分含量 / 二酸化炭素 / 連続測定 / 火山性地震

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The Sakura-jima volcano, which is located in southern Japan, has been very active since 2009. High Po-210 activity concentrations were observed in air samples from Sakura-jima volcano collected in the 1980s. Polonium-210 is one of the decay products of Rn-222 (radon) which is a radioactive noble gas. Radon inhalation is believed to increase the risk of lung cancer and is second only to tobacco smoking as a risk factor. Increases in radon concentrations from the soil surface might be associated with the diastrophism caused by the volcanic activity. This may suggest that the increases in radon concentrations associated with the activity of the Sakura-jima volcano may be increasing the lung cancer risk for people living nearby. In this study, radon exhalation rate from the ground surface and meteorological data were measured continuously to investigate the relationship between the exhaled radon and activity of the Sakura-jima volcano.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Characteristic of thoron (220Rn) in environment (2017)
  • Author(s): Masahiro Hosoda, Hiromi Kudo, Kazuki Iwaoka, Ryohei Yamada, Takahito Suzuki, Yuki Tamakuma, Shinji Tokonami
  • Journal Title: Applied Radiation and Isotopes Volume: 120 Pages: 7-10
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Generation and Migration of 222Rn in BaSO4 Precipitate Samples and Implications for their Analysis for 226Ra by Gamma Spectrometry (2016)
  • Author(s): Masahiro Hosoda, Kevin Kelleher, Michael Murray, Paul McGinnity, Olwyn Hanley, Jennie Wong, Lorraine Currivan
  • Journal Title: Radiation Environment and Medicine Volume: 5 Pages: 22-28
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Radon as a tracer in the monitoring of volcanic activity (2017)
  • Author(s): Masahiro Hosoda, Shinji Tokonami, Naofumi Akata, Kazuki Iwaoka, Takahito Suzuki, Yuki Tamakuma, Ryohei Yamada, Kanako Yamanouchi, Yoshitaka Shiroma, Masahide Furukawa
  • Organizer: Third East European Radon Symposium
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] 桜島周辺におけるラドン散逸率の連続測定 (2016)
  • Author(s): 鈴木崇仁, 細田正洋, 床次眞司, 赤田尚史, 岩岡和輝, 山田椋平, 山内可南子, 城間吉貴, 古川雅英
  • Organizer: 日本放射線影響学会第59回大会
  • Place of Presentation: JMSアステールプラザ（広島県広島市）
  • Year and Date: 2016-10-26
• [Presentation] Continuous measurement of radon exhalation rate from soil surface around active volcano (2016)
  • Author(s): Masahiro Hosoda, Shinji Tokonami, Naofumi Akata, Kazuki Iwaoka, Ryohei Yamada, Takahito Suzuki, Kanako Yamanouchi, Yoshitaka Shiroma, Masahide Furukawa
  • Organizer: 7th Annual Conference on Radionuclide Metrology Low-Level Radioactivity Measurement Techniques
  • Place of Presentation: Motifホテル（米国・シアトル）
  • Year and Date: 2016-09-26
  • Int'l Joint Research