The world community has long used natural hot springs for tourist and medicinal purposes. In Indonesia, the province of West Java, which is naturally surrounded by volcanoes, is the main destination for hot spring tourism. This paper is the first report on radon measurements in tourism natural hot spring water in Indonesia as part of radiation protection for public health. The purpose of this paper is to study the contribution of radon doses from natural hot spring water and thereby facilitate radiation protection for public health. A total of 18 water samples were measured with an electrostatic collection type radon monitor (RAD7, Durridge Co., USA). The concentration of radon in natural hot spring water samples in the West Java region, Indonesia ranges from 0.26 to 31 Bq L−1. An estimate of the annual effective dose in the natural hot spring water area ranges from 0.51 to 0.71 mSv with a mean of 0.60 mSv for workers. Meanwhile, the annual effective dose for the public ranges from 0.10 to 0.14 mSv with an average of 0.12 mSv. This value is within the range of the average committed effective dose from inhalation and terrestrial radiation for the general public, 1.7 mSv annually.
Mamuju, Indonesia, is an area with high natural background radiation. This study assesses heavy metal content in soil samples from this area to determine the level of public and environmental hazard it presents. This study analyzes natural radionuclide elements using high purity germanium (HPGe) gamma spectrometry and performs heavy metals analysis using a flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). Moreover, pollution indices and descriptive analyses were used to assess heavy metal contamination in the environment and the correlation between heavy metals and radionuclides. The results demonstrate that soil samples in several areas of Mamuju contain a high concentration of the natural radionuclides 226Ra and 232Th, and that heavy metal concentrations in the soil decrease in the sequence Zn > Pb > Cr > Cu > Ni > Cd. This study revealed that soil samples from Mamuju are moderately contaminated. There was a strong positive relationship between 226Ra, 232Th, ambient dose equivalent rate, and Pb. Ecological risk index (RI) and cumulative pollution index (IPI) values in Mamuju are 2.05 and 125, respectively, which are possible hazards to human health as a result. Pb concentration in the Mamuju soil samples ranged from 109 to 744 mg kg−1, exceeding the worldwide average of 27 mg kg−1.