Measurements of radon concentration levels in thermal waters in the region of Konya, Turkey

222Rn (radon) is one of the most important sources of natural radiation to which people are exposed. It is an alpha-emitting noble gas and it can be found in various concentrations in soil, air and in different kinds of water. In this study, we present the results of radon concentration measurements in thermal waters taken from the sources in the region of Konya located in the central part of Turkey. The radon activity concentrations in 10 thermal water samples were measured by using the AlphaGUARD PQ 2000PRO radon gas analyser in spring and summer of the year 2012. We found that radon activity concentrations range from 0.60±0.11 to 70.34±3.55 kBq m-3 and from 0.67±0.03 to 36.53±4.68 kBq m-3 in spring and summer, respectively. We also calculated effective doses per treatment in the spas for the spring and summer seasons. It was found that the minimum and maximum effective doses per treatment are in the range of 0.09-10.13 nSv in spring and in the range of 0.1-5.26 nSv in summer. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.