A comparison of winter short-term and annual average radon measurements in basements of a radon-prone region and evaluation of further radon testing indicators

Details

• Personal Author:
  Barros NG ; Field RW ; Steck DJ
• Description:
  The primary objective of this study was to investigate the temporal variability between basement winter short-term (7 to 10 d) and basement annual radon measurements. Other objectives were to test the short-term measurement's diagnostic performance at two reference levels and to evaluate its ability to predict annual average basement radon concentrations. Electret ion chamber (short-term) and alpha track (annual) radon measurements were obtained by trained personnel in Iowa residences. Overall, the geometric mean of the short-term radon concentrations (199 Bq m) was slightly greater than the geometric mean of the annual radon concentrations (181 Bq m). Short-term tests correctly predicted annual radon concentrations to be above the 148 Bq m action level 88% of the time and above a 74 Bq m level 98% of the time. The short-term and annual radon concentrations were strongly correlated (r = 0.87, p < 0.0001). The foundation wall material of the basement was the only significant factor to have an impact on the absolute difference between the short-term and annual measurements. The findings from this study provide evidence of a substantially lower likelihood of obtaining a false negative result from a single short-term test in a region with high indoor radon potential when the reference level is lowered to 74 Bq m. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution Air Pollution, Indoor Environmental Monitoring Occupational Health Quality Control Radiation Safety
• Keywords:
  Air-monitoring Air-quality Air-quality-measurement Air-quality-monitoring Alpha-track Author Keywords: Detector Electrets Exposure-levels Gamma-radiation Ionization-chambers Ionizing-radiation Monitoring-systems Monitors Quality-control Radioactive-measurement Radiological-equipment Radon Sampling Short-term-exposure

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• ISSN:
  0017-9078
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Iowa ; Minnesota ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  106
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20044360
• Citation:
  Health Phys 2014 May; 106(5):535-544
• Contact Point Address:
  R. William Field, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, College of Public Health, S327 CPHB, 105 River Street, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242
• Email:
  bill-field@uiowa.edu
• CAS Registry Number:
  Radon (CAS RN 10043-92-2)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• Performing Organization:
  University of Iowa
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Health Physics
• End Date:
  20290630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9b6e17ca1e11a54b803bce7865825b2c21834484cc14ac2732c05e81fc0f1c2d7686daa25bc0231eb0789e05ff0dc094703cafd2a713ad8a1269d2d3d1d1332b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/200076/cdc_200076_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.20 MB ]