Preliminary study of radon in underground mines in Western Australia

Summary

Twenty-seven mines (zinc/lead, gold, nickel, coal), employing 80% of the W.A. underground mining workforce, were surveyed to measure the decay products of radon in mine air.

Passive CR-39 track etch monitors were installed in the mines for periods of up to 6 months to measure the long-term average levels of radon gas.

Parallel sampling of radon daughters was conducted over the same period at some of the mines.

The radon daughter sampling was carried out using alpha NUCLEAR PRISM II automatic monitors and the Kuznetz grab sampling method.

Keywords: radon, progeny, underground, mines, health