assessment of annual effective dose for different age groups based on radon concentrations in the groundwater of qassim, saudi arabia

Introduction: given that the groundwater is a radon contaminated and used as a source for drinking water, then measuring the amount contamination is of high necessity. material and methods: the measurement was performed using rad-7 detector. results: the measured radon concentration values ranged 1.20-15.43 bq/l with the mean of 5.18±0.39 bq/l. the estimated total annual effective doses based on radon concentrations in drinking water were within the range of 6.34-81.62 μsv/y for infants, 2.34-30.04 μsv/y for children, and 3.07-39.42 μsv/y for adults. moreover, the corresponding mean values were estimated at 27.41±2.06, 10.08±0.76, and 13.23±0.99 μsv/y, respectively. conclusion: the total annual effective dose in all samples were within the global average level of ingestion exposure dose value (0.1 msv/y from radon concentrations) reported by the united nations scientific committee on effects of atomic radiations. therefore, there are no risks for the consumption of these water samples.