High concentrations of natural radionuclides in building materials result in high dose rate indoorsdue to radon and thoron exhalation and the ?-rays emitted from them. Among the naturalradionuclides contained in building materials, most attention has been given to 226Ra due to 222Rnexhalation and the subsequent internal exposure. In external dose calculations due to buildingmaterials it is usually assumed that there exists radioactive equilibrium among the radionuclides ofboth the uranium and thorium series.
The Nuclear Engineering Section of the National Technical University of Athens undertook the organisation of a European building material radon exhalation rate intercomparison exercise in the framework of the European Research into Radon In Construction Concerted Action (ERRICCA). The intercomparison started in June 1998 and it was concluded in February 1999. Twenty participants from 13 countries took part. The exercise focused on the radon exhalation rate determination from a concrete slab, specially constructed to produce radon surface flux well below 10 mBqm-2s-1.
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