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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Built Environ.
Sec. Indoor Environment
Volume 10 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fbuil.2024.1494237
This article is part of the Research Topic Built Environment: Indoor Pollutants and Risk Management View all 5 articles

Radiation protection and natural building materials in cultural heritage

Provisionally accepted
Giuseppe La Verde Giuseppe La Verde 1*Alessio Ricciardelli Alessio Ricciardelli 2Elisa Ognibene Elisa Ognibene 2Fabrizio Ambrosino Fabrizio Ambrosino 1Mariagabriella Pugliese Mariagabriella Pugliese 1
  • 1 University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy
  • 2 Public Works Service, Municipality of Impruneta, Florence, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Buildings that constitute cultural heritage and that are the identity of a defined geographical area are increasingly being restored to offer the community historical places to enjoy. Often the restoration preserves the original structure and building materials, which are usually natural stones. In this study, a radioprotection protocol dedicated to this kind of built environment was proposed and validated. After identifying the two predominant types of building material stones (Rosso ammonitico and Pietra Serena), radiometric measurements for natural gamma-emitting radionuclides and measurements of the emanation coefficient and calculation of the exhalation rate of radon gas were carried out. The results, in addition to ensuring the radioprotection of the population, highlighted the need to increase the number of this kind of investigations to implement scientific knowledge and serve the stakeholders involved.

    Keywords: Building material, Measurements, Ionizing radiation, Cultural heritage, Radiation Protection, Indoor environment

    Received: 10 Sep 2024; Accepted: 17 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 La Verde, Ricciardelli, Ognibene, Ambrosino and Pugliese. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Giuseppe La Verde, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

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