Design and Development of a New Methodology Based on Expert Systems Applied to the Prevention of Indoor Radon Gas Exposition Risks.

Jorge Cerqueiro-Pequeño,Manuel Casal-Guisande,José-Benito Bouza-Rodríguez,Alberto Comesaña-Campos

doi:10.3390/ijerph18010269

Jorge Cerqueiro-Pequeño, Manuel Casal-Guisande + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18010269

Copy DOI

Abstract

Exposure to high concentration levels of radon gas constitutes a major health hazard, being nowadays the second-leading cause of lung cancer after smoking. Facing this situation, the last years have seen a clear trend towards the search for methodologies that allow an efficient prevention of the potential risks derived from the presence of harmful radon gas concentration levels in buildings. With that, it is intended to establish preventive and corrective actions that might help to reduce the impact of radon exposure on people, especially in places where workers and external users must stay for long periods of time, as it may be the case of healthcare buildings. In this paper, a new methodology is developed and applied to the prevention of the risks derived from the exposure to radon gas in indoor spaces. Such methodology is grounded in the concurrent use of expert systems and regression trees that allows producing a diagram with recommendations associated to the exposure risk. The presented methodology has been implemented by means of a software application that supports the definition of the expert systems and the regression algorithm. Finally, after proving its applicability with a case study and discussing its contributions, it may be claimed that the benefits of the new methodology might lead on to an innovation in this field of study.

Highlights

IntroductionOdourless, colourless and tasteless and belongs to the ‘noble gases’ group of chemical elements
Radon gas is radioactive, odourless, colourless and tasteless and belongs to the ‘noble gases’ group of chemical elements
By proposing a new methodology that will provide support to the decisions related to the prevention of high concentrations of radon gas, a system for the prevention of the risk associated to the exposure to radon gas with an increased effectiveness and reliability has been defined

Summary

Introduction

Odourless, colourless and tasteless and belongs to the ‘noble gases’ group of chemical elements. It is produced by the radioactive decay of radium through an α-disintegration chain [1,2]. It emanates naturally from soil and rocks, penetrating into buildings thorough existing orifices (cracks, holes, etc.). Several different studies consider that a radon gas concentration level between 5 and 15 Bq/m3 , common in outdoor spaces, is not a health threat at all, and its impact on health is usually considered only in enclosed spaces. Inhalation of radon gas and its decay-products is one of the main causes of lung cancer [1,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion