Seasonal Variation of Radon Concentrations in Russian Residential High-Rise Buildings

Ilia Yarmoshenko,Georgy Malinovsky,Aleksandra Onishchenko,Aleksey Vasilyev

doi:10.3390/atmos12070930

Ilia Yarmoshenko, Georgy Malinovsky + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12070930

Copy DOI

Journal: Atmosphere	Publication Date: Jul 20, 2021
Citations: 10	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Institute of Industrial Ecology

Abstract

Assessment of the annual radon concentration is often required in indoor radon surveys of territories and individual dwellings for comparison with reference levels, studying factors affecting radon accumulation in dwellings, assessment of exposure in epidemiological studies, etc. The indoor radon surveys were carried out in multistorey buildings in eight Russian cities using solid state nuclear track detectors with an exposure period of three months. For these surveys, the estimation of annual indoor radon concentration was required to compare radon levels in buildings of high- and low-energy-efficiency classes located in different cities. To develop approaches to seasonal normalization in high-rise buildings, long-term one-hour radon concentration series obtained applying radon-monitors in 20 flats were analyzed. The dependency of indoor radon concentration on the indoor–outdoor temperature difference was studied taking into account the known natural, technogenic and anthropogenic factors affecting radon levels. The developed model of seasonal variations in multistorey buildings includes winter, summer, and demi-season periods, which differ both in ventilation intensity and dependency of radon concentration on the temperature difference. The developed model allows to estimate annual radon concentration taking into account the actual distribution of outdoor temperatures during the exposure of the track detectors.

Highlights

The relevance of studying radon (222 Rn) in indoor atmosphere is connected with findings on association of radon progeny inhalation with human health effects
A combined evaluation of estimates of residential case control studies meta-analysis and geographically aggregated data on lung cancer mortality and average indoor radon concentration yielded an excess risk of lung cancer of about 14% per radon concentration
This paper presents the model of seasonal variations of radon concentration in flats of multistorey buildings based on the results of analysis of radon concentration long-term one-hour series obtained using radon monitors

Summary

Introduction

The relevance of studying radon (222 Rn) in indoor atmosphere is connected with findings on association of radon progeny inhalation with human health effects. Based on the review of uranium miners’ study, BEIR VI Committee [1] has proved that exposure to radon gas and its decay products causes lung cancer. A strong causal association between residential radon exposure and lung cancer mortality is supported by pooled analysis of case control studies performed in Europe and North America [2,3]. A combined evaluation of estimates of residential case control studies meta-analysis and geographically aggregated data on lung cancer mortality and average indoor radon concentration yielded an excess risk of lung cancer of about 14% (90% CI: 0.10–0.18) per radon concentration. According to a special study of the Lancet journal, radon is ranked as the fifth environmental risk factor for human health in 2019 [6]

Objectives

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion