Abstract
The central role played by basement depressurization in drawing radon-contaminated soil gas into a structure has been demonstrated by calculating the radon entry rate from radon concentration and air infiltration measurements at different levels of basement depressurization in a single-family research house. The radon entry rate is found to be a linear function of basement depressurization in this house which indicates that the flow of soil gas into the structure is laminar. The radon entry rates calculated before and after using a mitigation procedure is shown to provide a better measure of the mitigation efficacy than the standard before and after mitigation radon measurements in a research house. In addition, an analysis of the possible flow characteristics of soil gas and uncontaminated air into a basement indicates that any attempt to predict long-term average radon exposure from short-term screening measurements will only be possible under severely restricted conditions.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 178-184 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Health Physics |
Volume | 66 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 1994 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Air sampling
- Radon
- Soil
- Ventilation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Epidemiology
- Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
- Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis