https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-023-00883-9
Regular Article
Radiological survey of geothermal water resources in Romania and dose estimation from their use in balneotherapy
1
Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, “Babeş-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2
Interdisciplinary Research Institute on Bio-Nano-Sciences, “Babeş-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
b
codrin.savin@stud.ubbcluj.ro
Received:
31
August
2022
Accepted:
15
May
2023
Published online:
30
May
2023
Romania has a long history and tradition of balneotherapy, with hundreds of thousands of tourists and locals practicing internal and external geothermal water cures to treat various ailments. Radiological data regarding these water resources is limited and consumers are unaware of the potential exposure to radiation resulted from ingestion. In this regard, the present study performed a radiological investigation on 25 geothermal water samples collected from different bays and spa centers in the western and north-western parts of Romania. Gross alpha and beta measurements revealed activities ranging from 0.02 ± 0.003 to 2.10 ± 0.41 Bq/L, respectively 0.04 ± 0.01 to 2.05 ± 0.47 Bq/L. 226Ra activities were in the 20 ± 1–1782 ± 124 mBq/L interval, and 222Rn values ranged between 1 ± 0.02 and 209 ± 21 Bq/L. The conformity of the obtained values with national and international regulations regarding drinking water was assesed. The values were generally low and in accordance to those obtained in other countries, the highest activity values were identified near Herculane bay and Felix bay areas. The contribution of 226Ra to the annual effective dose resulted from ingestion of the investigated geothermal waters were calculated.
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