The Movable Heritage of Drăghia

The movable heritage of the Drăghia village, Maramureș County, is still around today thanks to a handful of people who diligently tended to the aged objects forsaken long ago. The old wooden church, built in 1706, is today a museum in which some of the age-old ritual objects, as well as other type of objects, are conserved. The decorations of the church, an important aspect over time, include various objects which today can be considered movable heritage. In this regard, the icons or paintings were highlighted by decorating them with decorative towels, woven by the village’s women. Other cloths, rugs and mats were also used for „dressing” the church. We will open the list of movable heritage objects with the key to the church, and tell its over 300-years old story. The icons, religious books, royal doors, banners, thurible, the two choir pews, the church bells, and the priest robes will complete our study. On the other hand, you can find an old shirt, a towel, a bench or some other object kept out of respect for their ancestors in almost every house in the village. The Radu families have impressive collections, having establishes a so-called personal museum

A Survey of Physical Parameters and Natural Radioactivity in the Wooden Church of “Archangels Mihail and Gavril,” Draghia

The aim of this chapter is to present information about the current environmental survey conducted in a wooden church in Draghia, Maramures County, Romania. The wooden church “Archangels Michael and Gavril” was built in 1706 and is registered as a category A historical monument in the national heritage. A mural painting of popular bills, in a precarious state of preservation, can be observed inside the church. A study was performed to analyze the correlation between the indoor/outdoor climatic parameters and degree of degradation in mural paintings. Additionally, an indoor radon screening was carried out in order to assess the potential exposure for workers and public. One of the most important environmental problems is the global climate change and its impact on the historical monuments in their natural space of conservation. The obtained results highlight how dangerous the climate can be in the long term regarding the state of conservation of the mural paintings inside the wooden church located in a natural environment

Alteration of the Cultural, Religious and Architectural Heritage from Lăpuș Land, in the Context of Climate Change

The architectural heritage is considered the most important category of cultural heritage; therefore, it requires special attention in the current state of climate change. The heritage presented in this chapter includes a total of 26 wooden churches located in Lăpuș Land, framed by UNESCO to the national heritage A and B category. Built on the present grounds or relocated, these are between 200 and 400 years old. Their degradation/alteration has been imminent over the decades due to aging and the socio-political conditions of the times. Alteration is a common notion in relation to the passage of time. The changes in environmental physical parameters, however, raise issues of sustainability of the buildings due to degradation. This paper wants to bring to the readers’ attention the importance and vulnerability of murals in wooden churches of Lăpuș County, which are an invaluable treasure, in terms of constructions, objects and traditions that require a civic responsibility for future generations in these difficult geopolitical conditions overlapping climate change

Indoor radon related with the geology in romanian urban agglomerations (cluj-napoca)

Radon is a natural radioactive gas that occurs due to the radioactive decay of radium (226Ra) present in rocks which, in turn, cames from the radioactive decay of uranium (238U), a primordial natural element. Along with factors such as porosity, permeability and humidity of the rocks and soils, pressure and temperature, geology setting plays one of the most important roles in the release of radon into the environment. Depending on the mineralogical compositions and characteristics of the bedrock from a certain area, a higher or lower concentration of radioactive minerals can be found in the rocks, which will directly influence the level of radon in the atmosphere, implicitly the concentration of radon measured in houses. In this study, a six months concentration of radon (222Rn) was assessed in 256houses from Cluj-Napoca area using CR-39 nuclear track detectors. Correlations between the indoor radon levels and the geological setting was further analyzed. The aim is to better understand the influence of geology on the concentration of radon levels in homes, in order to further identify other risk areas in terms of exposure to radon. Further investigation is needed on other factors influencing the accumulation of radon in high concentrations indoor, such as ventilation, occupation patterns or constructive and architectural features for typical houses. Therefore, the results of this work are considered to be important for indoor radon management in Romania

Intercomparison of Radon in Soil Instruments at Reference Site in Czech Republic

Intercomparison exercises of radon instruments play an important part when it comes to domestic survey as well as international or national mapping in dwellings, soil or water. Therefore, it is of prime interest to improve and standardize technical methods of measurement and also to verify quality assurance through comparison between different instruments and techniques. In the present paper is described the latest intercomparison exercise performed between the Laboratory of Environmental Radioactivity (hereafter called LER) of our department and other 15 different teams around Europe. The test has been held at two radon reference sites located 60 km SW of Prague, Czech Republic

Thoron/radon measurements in Romania and comparison with Macedonian schools

Radon problem has been widely investigated within the Romanian borders throughout the years while thoron did not attract that much of attention. However, fairly recent studies around the world have pointed out that indoor thoron should not be neglected when estimating the effective dose. Taking this into consideration a new survey is in progress, a survey that is going to provide the effective dose not only due to indoor radon but also the thoron contribution to it. Both dwellings and workplaces were selected for this investigation. The measuring method used is based on solid state nuclear track detectors with CR39 plats. A comparison exercise with Macedonian schools pointed out that both radon and thoron activity concentrations appears to be rather higher in Romanian schools with an average radon activity concentration of 89 Bq m-3 for the first versus 211 Bq m-3 for the last and respectively 19 Bq m-3 versus 80 for thoron. Notwithstanding, the Romanian dwellings presented slightly lower activity concentrations for radon, with an average of 193 Bq m-3 while thoron activity remained steady at 80 Bq m-3. However, the present paper analyzes only a low number of locations; a more substantial survey is yet in progress

THE QUALITY OF THE NATURAL MINERAL WATERS FROM BUZĂU COUNTY

The main purposes of the present study were: to investigate the physico-chemical parameters of several mineral springs from Buzău County and to classify the investigated waters in mineral water classes, according to national legislation. The analyzed parameters were: pH, temperature, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), salinity, dissolved oxygen (DO) and turbidity. The water samples were collected during October 2014. Generally, the water samples proved to be slightly acidic to neutral, with high levels of TDS (37 7 – 1,271 mg/l). Some of the analyzed dissolved ions (carbonates, bromine and phosphate) were not detected in the analyzed waters. The major dissolved ions distribution is dominated by the presence of sodium (3.8 – 589.2 mg/l), calcium (36.5 – 126.3 mg/l), sulphates (60.3 – 412.2 mg/l) and bicarbonates (213.2 – 915 mg/l). Magnesium ranged between 9.9 – 40.6 mg/l, potassium between 8.7 – 45.2 mg/l, fluoride between 1.0 and 2.9 mg/l., nitrates between 6.4 and 108.9 mg/l and chlorine was between 9.1 and 211.8 mg/l. Some of the investigated water can be commercialized as sodic water, chlorine water, sulphate water and bicarbonate water

First Steps towards a National Approach for Radon Survey in Romanian Schools

Schools are a category of public buildings with a high radon exposure risk, due to their high occupancy factor. In Romania, the elaboration of a methodology for radon measurements in schools is a necessity imposed both by the European legislation and by the relatively high percentage (about 10%) of the mapped territory with a potential increased risk of exposure to the action of ionizing radiation emitted by radon. In order to optimize the design of a national survey aimed to evaluate radon exposure of children in Romanian schools, we conducted a pilot study in two schools in Cluj-Napoca, following the screening measurements carried out in 109 schools and kindergartens from five counties. The specific steps that must be followed were described, taking into account the international protocols and particularities of Romanian territory. The proposed approach could act as a guide for other large buildings and is implicit for the implementation of National Radon Action Plan, approved by HG no. 526/12 July 2018 in accordance with Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM. The obtained results indicate that a high probability of annual radon concentration above the national reference level is to be expected in schools

Radiological Risk Assessment for Karstic Springs Used as Drinking Water in Rural Romania

Seasonal variations of the radon and radium activity concentrations in karstic water sources originating in karstic formations were investigated as part of a premiere systematic survey conducted in Romania. A database including a total of 228 drinking water samples collected from 30 distinct water sources adjacent to rural communities was compiled. The radon and radium activity concentrations for all seasons, assessed based on solid scintillation, ranged from 2.1 to 19.7 Bq/L and from 0.6 to 3.0 Bq/L, respectively. Overall, the detected radon and radium contents did not exceed the radioprotection standards recommended by national and European legislation. However, in at least one season, the measured values for 31% of the samples exceeded the 11.1 Bq/L maximum contaminant level for radon in drinking water recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States. The associated radiological risk, reported in terms of annual effective dose, was calculated to be between 9.8 × 10−6 and 6.0 × 10−5 mSv/y for radon and between 5.9 × 10−5 and 2.7 × 10−4 mSv/y for radium, which are considerably below the WHO (World Health Organization) guidelines at a value of 0.1 mSv/y

Radon Concentration in Three Florida Caves: Florida, Jennings, and Ocala

This study reports the first radon concentration measurements within three frequently visited caves in Florida: one touristic (Florida Caverns), one private (Ocala Caverns), and one private, but publicly accessible (Jennings Cave). To measure the radon concentration, 18 CR-39 solid-state alpha track detectors were placed along the main passages of these caves for a period of 2 months (between December 2016 and February 2017). The results show that the radon concentration throughout all caves greatly exceeds the recommended safety action level. The highest concentrations of 2737 and 2958 Bq m−3 were recorded in Ocala and Jennings caves, respectively; whereas in Florida Caverns, the concentration reached a value as high as 1050 Bq m−3. To aid in ventilation, allowing the built-up gas to disperse, it is suggested that at Florida Caverns, the entry doors to be periodically opened for several hours. In locations with high concentrations where additional ventilation is not possible, such as Ocala and Jennings, it is recommended that the exposure time to be limited. Although radon values measured in the surveyed caves are high, the occasional cave visits are generally safe as the overall exposure time is minimal. However, cave guides and workers may have an increased risk as they spend many hours a day during which they are exposed to these high radon concentrations