A Study of Factors Affecting Indoor Radon Properties

Abstract

The factors affecting indoor radon properties in Hong Kong have been studied, including the radon concentration, the total potential alpha energy concentration of radon progeny, the equilibrium factor, and the fraction of unattached radon progeny. These factors fall into three categories, namely, (1) the building characteristics, including cooling method, age of the buildings, wall coverings and floor coverings; (2) the location of sites, including nearby environments, geological materials of the area, and the elevation of the sites; and (3) the meteorological parameters, including rainfall, relative humidity, pressure, temperature, and wind speeds. For category (1), only the ventilation is found to affect the indoor radon properties. For category (2), only the nearby environments have effects. For category (3), the rainfall and temperature are found to have significant effects.

Sistemas de extracción como técnicas constructivas para evitar la entrada de gas radón en las viviendas

“…Por un lado, en función de las características arquitectónicas de la vivienda, el viento puede favorecer el intercambio de aire entre el interior y el exterior de la misma (Yu et al 1996) (13). Este aporte de aire con baja concentración de radón, daría lugar a una reducción de la misma en el interior.…”

Cost assessment of ventilation and averted dose due to radon in dwellings

“…For radon the only significant removal process is ventilation (Lee and Yu, 2000;Khan, 2000), while for its short-lived decay products ( 218 Po, 214 Pb, 214 Bi and 214 Po) in their various species the removal rates are determined -in addition to the radioactive decay and ventilation -by attachment to aerosol particles and deposition and resuspension on the walls and other surfaces (UNSCEAR Report, 2000;Gallelli et al, 1998;Islam et al, 1996;Yu et al, 1996). These removal processes reduce the concentrations of radon daughters (Godoy et al, 2002) and thus diminish the inhalation dose.…”

Retrospective radon progeny measurements through measurements of 210Po activities on glass objects using stacked LR 115 detectors

“…It is also noted that, out of the 10 surveyed residential sites, four were close to a construction site or renovation site when the measurements were made. For these sites, a larger-than-usual aerosol concentrations and thus larger contemporary (but not the retrospective) airborne radon progeny concentrations were expected [34,35].…”