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

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 105C 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

13 % to 20 % of dry weight

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 (m / 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 / m 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/m

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/m

Efficiency of Radon Detection recommended by

the EPA
Method

Number of
Tests
Alpha track detector
10
Activated-charcoal adsorption detector
256
Continuous radon monitor
99
Continuous working level monitor
75
Electric ion chamber
127
Grab sampling radon
66
Grab sampling working level
58
Radon progeny integrated sampling unit
4
Source: GAO, 1989

Average Error Range of Company Error

(percent)
(percent)
25
11 to 55
19
1 to 133
25
0 to 658
40
0 to 1353
31
5 to 486
18
3 to 75
29
3 to 328
27
1 to 80

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 VOCs)