Concentration of 226Ra in Hungarian bottled mineral water

Concentration of the radionuclide 226Ra was determined in almost every type of bottled mineral water commercially available in Hungary. Determination of the radon coming from the radium dissolved in the water was used for activity measurement. As the results show, the 226Ra concentrations exceed the level of 100 mBq l−1 in six cases out of the 28 types of mineral water investigated. In one case 3 Bq l−1 was measured, which provides 0.3 mSv year−1 committed effective dose for adults in the case of a consumption rate of 1 l day−1. In soft drinks produced from mineral water a concentration of 2.6 Bq l−1 was determined, which means 1.4 mSv year−1 effective dose in the age group 12–17 years in the case of permanent daily drinking of 1 l of these beverages.