Thoron (220Rn) exhalation from building materials has become increasingly recognized as a potential source for radiation exposure in domestic houses. However, contrary to radon (222Rn), little is known about the exposure to thoron and its short-lived decay products. The purpose of this study is to estimate the concentration of thoron and its progeny products in a typical Dutch living room using computational fluid dynamics. The predicted thoron concentration is approximately 9 Bq m−3 using a best possible estimate of 14 Bq s−1 for the thoron exhalation from building materials. The concentration varies from 15 Bq m−3 near the building materials to 2.7 Bq m−3 in the center of the living room. The predicted concentrations of thoron’s decay products 212Pb and 212Bi are 0.35 and 0.11 Bq m−3, respectively. The thoron exhalation is derived theoretically and is based on measured radon exhalation rates of the most commonly used building materials in the Netherlands.
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