Radon

Introduction

 Radon is a colorless and odorless gas produced by the decay of radium – 226

 Radon after decay produces radioisotopes known as radon daughters

 Radon progenies (Po-218 and Po-214) are of health concern, as they tend to
retain in the lungs causing cancer

 The upper limit recommended by US EPA for radon is 4pCi/L

 Radon is found in many states in the USA

Sources
 Sources of Radon
 Sources of radon include

 Soil

 Rocks beneath or surrounding the building

 Water

 Building materials

 Natural gas

 Radon from soil moves slowly from the pores of the soil to the surface by
diffusion or pressure induced flow

 Radon enters the building from the cracks and joints in the foundation
 Effective radon (Rn - 222) Content of Soils
Soils Range of Emanation
Coefficient
Crushed rocks 0.005 – 0.40
Soil 0.03 – 0.55
Soil 0.22 – 0.32 13 % to 20 % of dry weight
Sand 0.06 – 0.18
Sandy loam 0.10 – 0.36
Silty loam 0.18 – 0.40
Heavy loam 0.17 – 0.23
Clay 0.18 – 0.40
Soil 0.09 – 0.10 Dried at 105°C for 24 h
Uranium ore 0.06 – 26 Saturated with water
Crushed Uranium ore 0.055 – 0.55 Saturated with water
Tailings from Uranium plant 0.067 – 0.072 Dried at 110° C
Source: Nazaroff et al., 1988
 Factors affecting transport of Radon to the
surface

 Soil permeability

 Porosity

 Water content

 Temperature

 Pressure difference between soil and building structure

 Permeability of Soils

Soil type Permeability (m² / h)

Clay 1 x 10 E (- 16)

Sandy clay 5 x 10 E (- 15)

Silt 5 x 10 E (- 14)

Sandy silt and gravel 5 x 10 E (- 13)

Fine sand 5 x 10 E (- 12)

Medium sand 1 x 10 E (- 10)

Coarse sand 5 x 10 E (-10)

Gravel 1 x 10 E (- 8)

Source: Terzaghi, 1967: Tuma, 1973

 Sources of Radon

 Water is also one of the potential sources due to high solubility of radon

 The transfer of radon from water to air decides its contribution to the indoor
concentration

 Building materials like granite, clay bricks, marble and sandstone are also
sources of radon

 Fly ash from coal-fired power plant is a major source of radon, which is used
in concrete and cement
Sampling and Measurement
 Sampling Methods
 Radon is measured indoors by the detection of alpha, beta or gamma
emissions during the decay

 The sampling methods are classified as:

 Grab sampling

 The study is conducted for a short period indoors by using

scintillating flask

 This method is advantageous in sensitivity and rapidity but is

less accurate

 When concentration is less than 10 Bq / m³ the error is more

than 30%
 Sampling Methods

 Continuous sampling

 This method gives a real time measurement at short interval over a long
time

 The devices available for this type are:

 Flow through scintillating chamber (two-port Lucas cell)

 Solid state detector (wrenn chambers)

 The wrenn chamber is the most widely used device capable of measuring
concentrations even below 10Bq/m³
 Integrated Sampling

 The devices used in this technique are:

 Alpha tract detectors

 Electronic ion detectors

 Charcoal canisters

 The charcoal canister method is EPA recommended and widely used method

 This is easy to use and can be sent through mail to lab for analysis

 The disadvantage of this method is an assumption that charcoal never reaches

an equilibrium with the atmospheric radon
 Radon concentration calculation
 Radon concentration is calculated by:

 Rn = {net CPM} / { T(s) (E) (CF) (DF)}

Where CPM – counts per minute

T(s) – exposure time
E – efficiency of detector
CF – calibration factor
DF – decay factor

This method is effective for measuring concentrations above 4pCi/L as directed

by EPA

 Charcoal canister is ineffective for radon below 10Bq/m³

Efficiency of Radon Detection recommended by
the EPA

Method Number of Average Error Range of Company Error

Tests (percent) (percent)
Alpha track detector 10 25 11 to 55
Activated-charcoal adsorption detector 256 19 1 to 133
Continuous radon monitor 99 25 0 to 658
Continuous working level monitor 75 40 0 to 1353
Electric ion chamber 127 31 5 to 486
Grab sampling radon 66 18 3 to 75
Grab sampling working level 58 29 3 to 328
Radon progeny integrated sampling unit 4 27 1 to 80
Source: GAO, 1989
Control Strategies
 Source removal

 Selection of construction sites having low radium content

 Knowledge of local soil characteristics such as permeability and moisture

content

 Removal and replacement of soil from a perimeter of 3m from the building

foundation

 The cost for this process is site specific and can range from $5,000 to $20,000
 New construction considerations

 Radon concentration can be substantially reduced by new construction

techniques

 Provision of soil gas outlet to the sun slab and crawl spaces

 Increasing the permeability by placing minimum of 4 inches of aggregate

under slab

 Double barrier approach can be used for slab-on-grade and crawl space
construction
 Source Control by sealing Entry paths

 Floor drains and sumps connected to drainage systems

 Openings around utility lines

 Hollow concrete block walls

 Junction between walls and floor and slab

 Cracks in building materials

 Exposed soil and rocks having radon

 Unpaved crawl space

 Sealing agents available and their
characteristics
 Caulking agents

 Paints

 Membranes

 Cement-type materials

 The sealants used should be moisture resistant

 Paints for walls.

 Sunslab ventilation

 The design of sunslab ventilation is house specific and depends on nature of

foundation

 Fan with a capability to create 50 – 100 Pa is installed on end of the pipe

running from the basement

 This can be made effective by placing multiple collection ports for each wall

 This is good for old structures, but excessive cracks diminish its effectiveness

 This is very effective if drain tiles surround the entire house

 Basement pressurization and Air cleaning

 This method is highly effective method if the basement is airtight

 Over pressurization of the basement drastically reduces the radon

concentration below 4 pCi / L

 This method is disadvantageous where there is increased ventilation and

excessive windows and doors activity

 This is one of the ways of reducing the radon concentration

 During this process the air exchange rates are increased using the HVAC
systems

 Increased ventilation and activated carbon beds can remove the radon gas and
its daughter products
Electronic air cleaners and Increased ventilation

 These cleaners have the capacity of reducing the radon gas and the potential
alpha energy concentration (PAEC) by a factor of 2 – 20

 After various studies combination of ion generator with ceiling fan produced
best results (87% reduction)

 Another way of decreasing the radon from indoors is plate-out i.e. by pushing
the charged progenies to walls or floors and then outdoors

 Simple, but rather effective technique is to increase the ventilation rate

 For homes with large crawl spaces mechanical ventilation is adopted to

decreasge the radon entry into the building (four fold decrease)
 Adsorption
 The radon adsorption can be another way in reducing its concentration
and depends on following factors:

 Air flow rates

 Radon concentration

 Relative humidity

 Activated carbon is used as adsorbent (having high capacity for radon

and minimum interference with moisture and other VOC’s)