Radon Mitigation Choices in the United States - A Comparison of Private and Public Sector Developments

Abstract

This paper compares private- and public-sector developments relating to radon mitigation in the U.S. In response to elevated radon levels in many U.S. houses, the Federal and State governments and the private sector have undertaken many varied mitigation and public-information efforts resulting in a range of radon reduction installations in the U.S. Government-sponsored research and development of radon-mitigation techniques in single-family detached houses is compared with radon mitigation approaches undertaken by the private sector. An attempt is also made to compare premitigation diagnostics, the application of mitigation techniques to various substructure types, the performance of mitigation installations, and the cost of the installations. The information collected indicates that subslab ventilation is the most common technique in both public- and private-sector radon mitigation; however, air-to-air heat exchangers and sealing are employed more frequently in the private sector than in government-sponsored mitigation.