A statistical evaluation of the influence of housing characteristics and geogenic radon potential on indoor radon concentrations in France

2013 ◽  
Vol 126 ◽  
pp. 216-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Demoury ◽  
G. Ielsch ◽  
D. Hemon ◽  
O. Laurent ◽  
D. Laurier ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meabh Hughes ◽  
Quentin Crowley

<p>Radon is a radioactive gas which emanates from rock, soil and water. Radon concentrations in the<br>atmosphere are generally very low (typically <5 Bq m-3), however it can occur at much higher levels<br>in soil (typically 10’s-100’s kBq m-3), or enclosed spaces such as buildings and caves (typically 10’s-<br>100’s Bq m-3). Exposure to radon and its daughter products is associated with an elevated risk of<br>developing lung cancer. Ireland has a population weighted indoor radon concentration of 98 Bq m-3<br>resulting in an estimated 300 annual lung cancer cases per year, representing approximately 12% of<br>the annual lung cancer cases. A national-scale legislative radon-risk map has a 10 x 10 km spatial<br>resolution and is based exclusively on indoor radon measurements (i.e. it does not contain any<br>geological information). The legislative map satisfies the European Council Directive<br>2013/59/EURATOM Basic Safety Standard, in that it defines “high radon” areas as those where >10%<br>of homes are estimated to exceed the national reference level of 200 Bq m-3. New buildings in such<br>areas are legally required to have a barrier, with low radon permeability installed.</p><p>This research focuses on a karstic region of SE Ireland, which features some exceptionally high<br>indoor radon concentrations (65,000 Bq m-3), even though it is not classified as a “high radon” area<br>on the national legislative map. Here we demonstrate the use of measuring sub-soil radon<br>concentrations and sub-soil permeability, in order to construct a radon potential (RP) map of the<br>area. Extremely high sub-soil radon concentrations (>1443 kBqm-3) and radon potential values<br>(>200) are spatially associated with Namurian shales, interbedded with limestone. Overall, we<br>classify the study area as high radon potential (RP >35) using this technique. We suggest all areas<br>underlain by Namurian shales in Ireland should undergo similar radon potential mapping, and if<br>necessary, should be re-designated as “high radon” areas. If deemed appropriate (i.e. where RP<br>>35), such a designation will help to protect the general public from the harmful effects of indoor<br>radon exposure, and will help to lower the incidence of radon-related lung cancer in these areas.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Coletti ◽  
Giancarlo Ciotoli ◽  
Eleonora Benà ◽  
Erika Brattich ◽  
Giorgia Cinelli ◽  
...  

<p>In the volcanic area of the Euganean Hills district (100 km<sup>2</sup>), the indoor radon often exceeds the threshold level of 300 Bq/m<sup>3 </sup>stipulated by the Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom, thus suggesting the need to investigate the possible link between observed radon concentrations and the local geology (Trotti et al., 1998,1999; Strati et al., 2014). More recently, statistical and geostatistical analysis on rock samples identified high U, Th and K concentrations associated with areas characterised by trachyte and rhyolite lithologies (Tositti et al., 2017). With this contribution, we completed our investigation on the natural radioactivity in the Euganean Hills district extending the rocks dataset, performing on-site soil gas survey, and considering other important factors which can locally increase the radon occurrence, such as hydrothermal alterations, types of soils (e.g., geochemistry or presence of organic matters), and faults. Furthermore, we elaborated a Geogenic Radon Potential map to assess the local spatial relationships between the measured soil gas radon concentrations and seven proxy-variables: fault density (FD), total gamma radiation dose (TGDR), <sup>220</sup>Rn (Tn), digital terrain mode (SLOPE), moisture index (MI), heat load index (HLI) and soil permeability (PERM). Empirical Bayesian Regression Kriging (EBRK) was used to develop the most accurate hazard map of the considered area, thus, providing the local administration an up-to-date decisional tool for the land use planning. For the high radon emission measured, the high density of dwelling, and its geomorphological features, the Euganean Hills district represented a very meaningful case of study.  </p><p> </p><p>Trotti, F., Tanferi, A., Lanciai, M., Mozzo, P., Panepinto, V., Poli, S., Predicatori, F., Righetti, F., Tacconi, A., Zorzine, R., 1998. Mapping of areas with elevated indoor radon levels in Veneto. Radiat. Prot. Dosim. 78 (1), 11–14.</p><p>Trotti, F., Tanferi, A., Bissolo, F., Fustegato, R., Lanciai, M., Mozzo, P., Predicatori, F., Querini, P., Righetti, F., Tacconi, A., 1999. A Survey to Map Areas with Elevated Indoor Radon Levels in Veneto, Radon in the Living Environment, 19-23 April 1999, Athens, Greece, 859–868.</p><p>Strati V., Baldoncini M., Bezzon G.P, Broggini C., Buso G.P., Caciolli A., Callegari I., Carmignani L, Colonna T, Fiorentini G., Guastaldi E., Kaçeli Xhixhaf M., Mantovani F, Menegazzo R., Moub L., Rossi Alvarez C., Xhixha G., Zanon A., 2014. Total natural radioactivity, Veneto (Italy). Journal of Maps, Vol. 11, Issue 4, 545–551. http://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2014.923348.</p><p>Tositti L., Cinelli G., Brattich E., Galgaro A., Mostacci D., Mazzoli C., Massironi M., Sassi R., 2017. Assessment of lithogenic radioactivity in the Euganean Hills magmatic district (NE Italy). J. Environ. Radioact. 166, 259–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.07.011</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 115 (7/8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques Bezuidenhout

The geology of an area can be used as a predictor for radon potential. Granite rock typically contains a high concentration of uranium and subsequent elevated emanation of radon gas. The geology of the western part of the Western Cape Province in South Africa is dominated by granite bedrock but very few studies on radon have been conducted in this area. Uranium concentrations were consequently measured on a large granite hill in the Saldanha Bay area of the Western Cape and a relationship between indoor radon and uranium concentrations was used to model radon potential on the outcrop. Results from granite rich environments in India were modelled in order to extract a relationship between indoor radon concentrations, radon exhalation rates and uranium concentrations. Radon exhalation rates greater than 0.35 Bq/m2h were predicted and estimated indoor radon concentrations in excess of 400 Bq/m3 were also predicted for the hill. The modelled results were compared with indoor radon measurements taken in the town of Paarl in the Western Cape, which sits on the same granite bedrock formation. The predicted radon potential correlated well with the physical measurements.


1994 ◽  
Vol 56 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 215-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.V. Nero ◽  
S.M. Leiden ◽  
D.A. Nolan ◽  
P.N. Price ◽  
S. Rein ◽  
...  

Abstract A methodology is being developed for identifying 'high radon' areas by correlating actual indoor levels with local soil, housing, and meteorological data. In preliminary multiple regression analyses using 'screening' indoor radon data from Minnesota, radium concentrations from aerial surveys, and information derived from a state soils map, indicate country geometric mean (GM) radon concentrations with an R2 of approximately 0.5, Furthermore, these data have even greater underlying predictive power, considering the substantial variability in GMs arising from the small numbers of homes monitored in most counties. This suggests that most of the variability of actual indoor radon concentrations from one area to another can be predicted quantitatively based on a correlation analysis between suitable indoor monitoring data and physical data on soils and other factors. This contrasts with methods for mapping the radon 'potential' that provide indicators of indoor concentrations without quantifying their relationship to actual indoor levels.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 51-67
Author(s):  
A. M. Marennyy ◽  
D. V. Kononenko ◽  
A. E. Trufanova

An extensive radon survey was conducted in 2008-2011 in the framework of the Federal target program on the territory of 29 districts of Chelyabinsk Oblast. SSNTDs were used to measure indoor radon concentrations in public buildings, dwellings and industrial buildings. The results are stored in the database “Radon” owned by Research and Technical Center of Radiation-Chemical Safety and Hygiene of Federal Medical-Biological Agency. The paper presents the results of the analysis of spatial variability of indoor radon concentration and the relationship of this value with a set of geological predictors of radon potential of the territory integrated into a map of ecological and radiogeochemical zones. The results show that in all districts and the whole Chelyabinsk Oblast radon concentrations conform to a lognormal distribution, but in ten districts log-logistic distribution fits the data slightly better. Nevertheless, relative difference between the median values of indoor radon concentration calculated from the two fitted distributions yields zero. The results show that dose assessment based on the arithmetic means could lead to an overestimation of the doses from radon in 1.4 times on average compared to that based on the medians. The median value does not exceed 400 Bq/m3 in any of the surveyed territories and the 95th percentile lies between 96 and 1274 Bq/m3. The fraction of indoor radon concentrations above 400 Bq/m3 expected from the fitted distribution lies between less than 0.1 and 26.8%. The highest values of this fraction were obtained for the Sosnovsky, Kaslinsky, Bredinsky districts and the Miassky urban district (except for the city of Miass). A map of ecological and radiogeochemical zones in Chelyabinsk Oblast was released in 1993-1995 and it was based on a set of geological predictors of radon potential of the territory. We analyzed the relationship of these zones with the results of the radon survey. One-way ANOVA on ranks with the Bonferroni correction showed that there is no statistically significant difference at the 95% confidence level amongst the medians of indoor radon concentration on basement, ground and first floors in settlements, which are located on the territory of three of four of these zones and outside of the territory of all zones. In the fourth zone the median was even two times lower than outside of the zones. These results lead to the conclusion that the possibility of using this map as a map of radon-prone areas is very doubtful. Each datapoint stored in the “Radon” database has a number of additional properties, which allows analyzing other types of indoor radon concentration variability such as seasonal or floor-to-floor. It is expected that later this dataset could be used for estimating regional seasonal correction factors.


1987 ◽  
Vol 13 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 323-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adel A. Mustafa ◽  
C.M. Vasisht ◽  
J. Sabol

Author(s):  
Mohammademad Adelikhah ◽  
Amin Shahrokhi ◽  
Morteza Imani ◽  
Stanislaw Chalupnik ◽  
Tibor Kovács

A comprehensive study was carried out to measure indoor radon/thoron concentrations in 78 dwellings and soil-gas radon in the city of Mashhad, Iran during two seasons, using two common radon monitoring devices (NRPB and RADUET). In the winter, indoor radon concentrations measured between 75 ± 11 to 376 ± 24 Bq·m−3 (mean: 150 ± 19 Bq m−3), whereas indoor thoron concentrations ranged from below the Lower Limit of Detection (LLD) to 166 ± 10 Bq·m−3 (mean: 66 ± 8 Bq m−3), while radon and thoron concentrations in summer fell between 50 ± 11 and 305 ± 24 Bq·m−3 (mean 115 ± 18 Bq m−3) and from below the LLD to 122 ± 10 Bq m−3 (mean 48 ± 6 Bq·m−3), respectively. The annual average effective dose was estimated to be 3.7 ± 0.5 mSv yr−1. The soil-gas radon concentrations fell within the range from 1.07 ± 0.28 to 8.02 ± 0.65 kBq·m−3 (mean 3.07 ± 1.09 kBq·m−3). Finally, indoor radon maps were generated by ArcGIS software over a grid of 1 × 1 km2 using three different interpolation techniques. In grid cells where no data was observed, the arithmetic mean was used to predict a mean indoor radon concentration. Accordingly, inverse distance weighting (IDW) was proven to be more suitable for predicting mean indoor radon concentrations due to the lower mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean square error (RMSE). Meanwhile, the radiation health risk due to the residential exposure to radon and indoor gamma radiation exposure was also assessed.


2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 388-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika Streckytė ◽  
Donatas Butkus

The article presents the entry of radon gas into premises and introduces the parameters accelerating and slowing this process. The paper determines the dependence of radon gas entering the premises on ambient temperature and humidity changes. It is noted that a growth in differences under ambient and indoor temperature increases indoor radon concentrations in the air due to an increase in the intensity of radon exhalation from soil. Also, an increase in the moisture content indoors decreases the volumetric activity of radon in the air. The simulated values of radon volumetric activity in ambient air were similar to those measured using radon monitoring device RTM2200. Radon concentration in the air of the first floor was higher than that in the second floor. Indoor radon concentrations were highest in the winter and lowest in summer season. Article in Lithuanian. Santrauka Nagrinėjama radono dujų patekimo į patalpas procesas, šį procesą spartinantys ir lėtinantys parametrai. Nustatoma radono dujų patekimo į patalpas priklausomybė nuo aplinkos temperatūros bei drėgnio kitimo. Pastebėta, kad, didėjant aplinkos ir patalpos temperatūrų skirtumui, didėja ir radono tūrinis aktyvumas patalpos ore (vasarą radono tūrinis aktyvumas siekė 45,0±3,0 Bq/m3, kai temperatūrų skirtumas buvo 3,1 °C, o rudenį – 62,0±5,0 Bq/m3, esant temperatūrų skirtumui 3,9 °C), didėja radono ekshaliacijos iš dirvožemio intensyvumas, o didėjant drėgmės kiekiui patalpose radono tūrinis aktyvumas ore mažėja. Sumodeliuotos radono tūrinio aktyvumo patalpos ore reikšmės buvo panašios kaip ir išmatuotos naudojant radono monitorių RTM2200. Pirmajame aukšte radono tūrinis aktyvumas ore buvo didesnis nei antrajame. Žiemos sezonu jo vertė buvo didžiausia (47,0±10,5 Bq/m3), o vasaros sezonu – mažiausia (15±1,8 Bq/m3).


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