Radiological assessment of radon concentration in cooking plates available in Erbil city, Kurdistan Region of Iraq

The evaluation of radon concentration in meal cooking plates is crucial, as radon gas is the second leading cause of lung cancer. For this purpose, 65 meal dish samples were collected in Erbil city. The radon concentration, surface exhalation rate, mass exhalation rate, and effective radon content, as well as the annual effective dose and excess lifetime cancer risk, were measured using a RAD-7 detector. The results demonstrate that the range of radon concentration, surface and mass exhalation rates, effective radon content, annual effective dose, and excess lifetime cancer risk in the studied samples are 14.2-80.1 Bq/m³, 0.027-0.151 Bq/m². h, 0.86-3.83 mBq/kg. h, 0.114-0.508 Bq/kg, 0.356-2.021 mSv/y, and (1.25-7.07)×10^-3 respectively. Radon concentrations in all samples fell below the ICRP's recommended activity range of 200-600 Bq/m³. The results indicated that the rate of radon release was less than the global average of 57.600 Bq/m².h. Additionally, the annual effective dose for a minority of the samples (15 out of 65, or 23%) exceeded the global average value of 1.2 mSv/y. The study reveals a strong correlation between radon activity concentration, surface exhalation rate, and mass exhalation rate, suggesting that certain ceramic plate dishes in kitchens increase radon pollution levels.