Abstract
In healthy buildings, it is considered essential to quantify air quality. One of the most fashionable indicators is radon gas. To determine the presence of this element, which is harmful to health, in the environment, the composition of the soil is studied. The presence of radon gas within a building depends both on the terrain in which it is located and on the composition of the materials of which it is composed, and not as was previously believed, only by the composition of the soil (whether granitic or not). Many countries are currently studying this phenomenon, including Spain where the building regulations regarding the accumulation of radon gas, do not list in their technical codes, the maximum dose that can a building can hold so that it is not harmful to people and the measures to correct excessive accumulation. Therefore, once the possible existence of radon in any underground building has been verified, regardless of the characteristics of the soil, the importance of defining and unifying the regulations on different levels of radon in all architectural constructions is evident. Medical and health science agencies, including the World Health Organization, consider that radon gas is a very harmful element for people. This element, in its gaseous state, is radioactive and it is present in almost soils in which buildings are implanted. Granitic type soils present higher levels of radon gas. Non-granitic soils have traditionally been considered to have very low radon levels. However, this paper demonstrates the relevant presence of radon in non-granitic soils, specifically in clayey soils, by providing the results of research carried out in the underground air raid shelter at Balmis Square in Alicante (Spain). The results of the measurements of radon accumulation in the Plaza Balmis shelter are five times higher than those obtained in a similar ungrounded building. This research addresses the constructive typology of an under-ground building and the radon presence in its interior obtained using rigorous measurement techniques.
Highlights
Radon gas is produced as a result of the decay of uranium contained in rocks [1]
300 Bq/m3 recommended by the European directive 2013/59/EURATOM of the year 2014 suggested as maximum recommended by the European Commission for Atomic Energy [35]
The Shelter of Balmis Square of Alicante (Spain) is a defence shelter building was used as a paradigm to demonstrate the presence of radon gas in underground constructions located in clay soils that are usually considered low risk in terms of the potential presence of radon gas
Summary
Radon gas is produced as a result of the decay of uranium contained in rocks [1]. Radon flows from the soil and is mostly concentrated in closed areas [2], so it is highly recommended that homes and workplaces are properly ventilated [3]. Three quarters of the radioactivity in the environment comes from natural elements [4]. Radon is the largest source of natural radioactivity [5] and the public health problem that its concentration generates both inside buildings and in drinking water makes it necessary to consider it for evaluation [6]. Radon decays due to so-called ionising radiation because when it penetrates matter, it usually pulls electrons from the surrounding atoms by a process known as ionisation [7]. If the matter is a biological structure with a high water content, the ionisation of water molecules can give rise to so-called free radicals with a high level of chemical activity, enough to alter important molecules that
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