One could say that the Spanish Radon Program began in 1988 with the development of a nationalsurvey on indoor radon in Spanish houses. Today, 10 years later, many activitites by differentinstitutions and Universities have been carried out and a good information about the radon problemhas been achieved. Spain consists of 50 provinces which are amalgamated to form 17 autonomousregions. In this paper, we show the results of a major research and development program which is stillin progress.
Several kinds of studies have been carried out concerning building materials.The granitic region can be considered as a significant part of the country. In recent years graniticmaterials are being used as ornements or integrated on the walls inside the houses, producing highindoor radon levels. Studies of different coverings for granitic materials were tested employing incolorpaintings in order to reduce the radon exhalation from such granitic stones, without modifying theirappearance.
A survey has been made of the radiation exposure of inhabitants in a small new housing estate in theNetherlands, where 101 houses are built at about the same time, but according to nine differentdesigns. The objective of this study was to determine which dwelling characteristics affect the indoorradon concentrations and the absorbed dose in air. Both components were examined separately for aperiod of one year in the crawl space, the living room and a first-floor bedroom, using passive tracketchedand thermoluminescence detectors, respectively.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of different ventilation strategies for a house and fora subfloor void to reduce the radon concentration level of the indoor air.A steady-state analytical ventilation model is derived to estimate the indoor air radon concentration inhouses on ground floor or with subfloor voids.
This paper presents the experimental results of utilizing Electro-Osmotic Pulsing Technology toreduce the diffusion of radon soil gas through a concrete slab. A laboratory system with state-of-theartinstrumentation has been used to measure the diffusion coefficient of radon soil gas through 30.5cm diameter, 10.2 cm thick standard composition concrete samples (w/c = 0.5 and cement:sand:gravel= 1:2:4). Within these concrete samples, a triple titanium anode configuration is embedded while anexternal copper rod is used as the cathode.
This paper presents the experimental results of utilizing a flexible thin-film membrane as a passivebarrier to radon gas diffusion. Nine commercially available membranes of various compositions andthicknesses were evaluated as retardant to radon gas diffusion. The radon gas concentration ratiosacross the thin-film membranes alone and in combination with an adjacent concrete sample (effectivediffusion coefficient) were measured in a laboratory system with state-of-the-art instrumentation.
The first Norwegian study of historic radon concentrations in 17 dwellings in the high radon areas inNorway has been conducted as part of an international field intercomparison during 1998. Theinvestigation is part of SINI (an acronym for Sweden, Italy, Norway and Ireland) internationalcollaboration on retrospective radon measurements in several European countries having differentclimates and living conditions.
The results of field investigations of natural radiation exposures of the general populations in twostable rural communities in Yugoslavia are presented. The principal emphasis was on exposures tocontemporary indoor radon but measurements of external penetrating radiation absorbed dose rates inair were carried out in the majority of cases. In addition in a limited number of dwellings,measurements of thoron gas concentrations were made.
Exposure to high concentrations of radon (222Rn) progeny produces lung cancer in both undergroundminers and experimentally exposed laboratory animals. The goal of the study was to determinewhether or not residential radon exposure exhibits a statistically significant association with lungcancer in a state with high residential radon concentrations.A population-based, case-control epidemiologic study was conducted examining the relationshipbetween residential radon gas exposure and lung cancer in Iowa females who occupied their currenthome for at least 20 years.
The use of contemporary radon (222Rn) gas concentrations to estimate retrospective radon-relateddoses can introduce substantial uncertainties in epidemiological analyses. These uncertainties tend tobias the results of radon-lung cancer epidemiologic studies towards the null. Temporal variability ofradon progeny over past decades and the variability in the dose effectiveness of airborne radonprogeny caused by indoor atmospheric differences are among the main sources of uncertainties in ourregion.