Penetration factor and indoor deposition rate of elementary and particulate iodine in a Japanese house for assessing the effectiveness of sheltering for radiation exposures

Hirouchi, Jun ; Takahara, Shogo  ; Komagamine, Hiroshi*; Kato, Nobuyuki*; Matsui, Yasuto*; Yoneda, Minoru*

Sheltering is one of the countermeasures for protection against radiation exposures in nuclear accidents. The effectiveness of sheltering is often expressed by the reduction factor, that is the ratio of the indoor to the outdoor cumulative radioactivity concentrations or doses. The indoor concentration is mainly controlled by the air exchange rate, penetration factor, and indoor deposition rate. The penetration factor and indoor deposition rate depend on the surface and opening materials. We investigated experimentally these parameters of I and particles. The experiment was performed in two apartment houses, three single-family houses, and chambers. The obtained penetration factor ranged 0.3 1 for particles of 0.3 1 m and 0.15 0.7 for I depending on the air exchange rate. The indoor deposition rate for a house room ranged 0.007 0.2 h for particles of 0.31 m and 0.21.5 h for I depending on floor materials.