Indoor Radon Concentrations in Greek Apartment Dwellings

Abstract

Radon concentrations indoors were determined in 24 typical occupied apartments in the city of Thessaloniki, North Greece (40 degrees 38'N, 22 degrees 58'E), by means of 12 surveys, each 2 mo long, over a 2-y period starting October 1989. The ratio of the winter and summer averages for the first year of measurements was 1.8 +/- 0.78, and for the second year of measurements was 1.6 +/- 0.61. The indoor radon concentration in the summer (1990) period ranged between 8 and 81 Bq m-3, while in the winter (1989-1990) it ranged between 20 and 143 Bq m-3 for the first year of measurements or between 8 and 92 Bq m-3 in the summer (1991) period and between 12 and 119 Bq m-3 in the winter (1990-1991) for the second year of measurements. These results were obtained by type CN-85 alpha track detectors. Some parameters that influenced the concentrations, such as precipitation rates and use of fly ash in building materials, are discussed.

Radon exposure is rising steadily within the modern North American residential environment, and is increasingly uniform across seasons

“…We also find that existing dogma – that radon is typically higher during winter heating months – no longer applies uniformly, at least within North America, where nearly half of residences showed consistent radon all year, and a quarter demonstrate higher summer radon. There are precedents in other regions for higher summer radon 33,34 . We speculate that this trend may be another consequence of the rising air-tightness of buildings in the region, but that this is also coupled with the growing prevalence of air conditioning units.…”

Radon and radioactivity at a town overlying Uranium ores in northern Greece

“…Papastefanou et al (1994) measured Rn in 24 apartment buildings in the city of Thessaloniki in northern Greece and found ratios of winter to summer averages 1.6e1.8 ± 0.70 and indoor radon concentration in the summer 8e92 Bq m À3 and in the winter 12e143 Bq m À3 . By comparison, other regions in Europe exhibit seasonalities with (MaxeMin)/Mean <0.5 for at least 50% of the studied regions (Groves-Kirkby et al, 2010).…”

Seasonal changes in radon concentrations in buildings in the region of northeastern Poland

“…However, it is difficult to describe as it depends on various factors, such as soil substratum type and the climate. The regularities are observations that cool seasons reveal higher concentrations of radon in the buildings than the warmer ones (Papastefanou et al, 1994). However, the increase of indoor radon concentration in summer in Alabama was also observed (Wilson et al, 1991).…”