Predicting Geographic Variations in Indoor Radon using Airborne Gamma - Ray Spectrometry

Doyle, P J; Grasty, R L; Charbonneau, Rémi

doi:10.4095/127688

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Studies in Canada (Doyle et al 1990;Jackson 1992;Cocksedge et al 1993;GSC 1996;Ford et al 2001), the United States (Otton et al 1995), Sweden (Akerblom 1995) and Great Britain (Ball et al 1995) have shown that the ground concentration of uranium determined using an airborne gamma-ray spectrometer provides a qualitative, firstorder approximation of regional variation in indoor radon levels and can be used to identify and outline high risk areas. Even though the existing data are limited to about 40% of Canada and there is almost no coverage around major population centers as shown on the Open File 4758 (equivalent uranium, radioactivity map of Canada; available at the website of the Geological Survey of Canada), data of airborne gamma surveys can still provide a firstorder approximation of radon potential in a significant portion of Canada, especially where indoor radon measurements will be hardly available..…”

Section: Available Data For Radon Potential Mapping In Canadamentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In order to derive predictive models relating geological information with indoor radon potential, uranium/radium concentrations in rocks and soils, terrestrial gamma radiation surveys, and soil gas radon measurements have been studied extensively in various locations at small geographic scales where good statistics on indoor radon measurements were available (Dehandschutter 2006;Doyle 1989;Doyle et al 1990;Kemski et al 1992Kemski et al , 2002Kemski et al , 2008. Those predictive tools have been successfully implemented to produce radon potential maps, such as in Sweden at a municipal level and in Spain and Estonia on national scales.…”

Section: Geological Radon Predictive Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A preliminary design of a radon potential map for Canada: a multi-tier approach

Chen

2009

Environ Earth Sci

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Canada is a vast country with most of the population living on a small portion of the land. However, for a national radon potential map, it is mandatory to cover the entire country including sparsely populated areas. Because of these characteristics, the radon map development for Canada is challenging. After briefly reviewing of radon map development in the world, this study considers a multi-tier approach to best use available however limited resources and to generate a national radon map in a timely fashion. In summary, radon potential maps for highly populated areas should be determined by direct indoor radon measurements where enough indoor radon data are available. In areas where indoor radon measurements are limited or not yet available, the radon potential maps could be developed from various data sources with a multi-factor scoring system including geological information on soil permeability, soil gas radon concentration and ground uranium concentration. In sparsely populated areas, radon potential maps can only be generated with geological predictive tools, especially in those areas where no houses have yet been built. Because indoor radon measurement data and geological information relevant to radon are very limited in Canada, a multi-step strategy is also worth considering in addition to the multi-tier approach.

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Section: Available Data For Radon Potential Mapping In Canadamentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Geological Radon Predictive Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A preliminary design of a radon potential map for Canada: a multi-tier approach

Chen

2009

Environ Earth Sci

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“…Also, importantly, we have now made an objective assessment of the predictive power of the method and can offer confidence limits on predictions of RP. Other studies utilizing AGRS data in radon hazard assessment include Letourneau et al, 1984;Doyle et al, 1990;Duval and Otton, 1990;Jackson, 1992;Cocksedge et al, 1993;Schumann, 1993;Walker, 1993;Åkerblom, 1995;Ball et al, 1995;Otton et al, 1995;Ford et al, 2001;Sundevall, 2003;Appleton et al, 2008Appleton et al, , 2011aDrolet et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The predictive power of airborne gamma ray survey data on the locations of domestic radon hazards in Norway: A strong case for utilizing airborne data in large-scale radon potential mapping

Smethurst

Watson

Baranwal

et al. 2017

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

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It is estimated that exposure to radon in Norwegian dwellings is responsible for as many as 300 deaths a year due to lung cancer. To address this, the authorities in Norway have developed a national action plan that has the aim of reducing exposure to radon in Norway (Norwegian Ministries, 2010). The plan includes further investigation of the relationship between radon hazard and geological conditions, and development of map-based tools for assessing the large spatial variation in radon hazard levels across Norway. The main focus of the present contribution is to describe how we generate map predictions of radon potential (RP), a measure of radon hazard, from available airborne gamma ray spectrometry (AGRS) surveys in Norway, and what impact these map predictions can be expected to have on radon protection work including land-use planning and targeted surveying. We have compiled 11 contiguous AGRS surveys centred on the most populated part of Norway around Oslo to produce an equivalent uranium map measuring 180 km × 102 km that represents the relative concentrations of radon in the near surface of the ground with a spatial resolution in the 100 s of metres. We find that this map of radon in the ground offers a far more detailed and reliable picture of the distribution of radon in the sub-surface than can be deduced from the available digital geology maps. We tested the performances of digital geology and AGRS data as predictors of RP. We find that digital geology explains approximately 40% of the observed variance in ln RP nationally, while the AGRS data in the Oslo area split into 14 bands explains approximately 70% of the variance in the same parameter. We also notice that there are too few indoor data to characterise all geological settings in Norway which leaves areas in the geology-based RP map in the Oslo area, and elsewhere, unclassified. The AGRS RP map is derived from fewer classes, all characterised by more than 30 indoor measurements, and the corresponding RP map of the Oslo area has no unclassified parts. We used statistics of proportions to add 95% confidence limits to estimates of RP on our predictive maps, offering public health strategists an objective measure of uncertainty in the model. The geological and AGRS RP maps were further compared in terms of their performances in correctly classifying local areas known to be radon affected and less affected. Both maps were accurate in their predictions; however the AGRS map out-performed the geology map in its ability to offer confident predictions of RP for all of the local areas tested. We compared the AGRS RP map with the 2015 distribution of population in the Oslo area to determine the likely impact of radon contamination on the population. 11.4% of the population currently reside in the area classified as radon affected. 34% of ground floor living spaces in this affected area are expected to exceed the maximum limit of 200 Bq/m, while 8.4% of similar spaces outside the affected area exceed this same limit, indicating that the map is very efficient...

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