Health risk assessment of radon in groundwater of a tropical river basin, SW India

This study evaluated the public health risks of radon (²²²Rn) in groundwater of Neyyar River Basin (NRB), southwest India. Among the 68 samples, ²²²Rn activity ranged from 0.25 to 61.7 Bq/L. Most geological formations, excluding charnockite, exhibited localized radon anomalies (> 11.1 Bq/L). Infants were the most radio-vulnerable age group and probabilistic health risk using Monte Carlo Simulation ranked infants (63.42%) > children (59.31%) > adults (58.57%) in the worst-case scenario. The integration of dose estimation, geospatial risk mapping, and Monte Carlo analysis presents an efficient approach for comprehensively evaluating the health risks associated with radon in groundwater.