Measuring radon source magnitude in residential buildings

Conference · Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1981

OSTI ID:5823640

Nazaroff, W W; Boegel, M L; Nero, A V

A description is given of procedures used in residences for rapid grab-sample and time-dependent measurements of the air-exchange rate and radon concentration. The radon source magnitude is calculated from the results of simultaneous measurements of these parameters. Grab-sample measurements in three survey groups comprising 101 US houses showed the radon source magnitude to vary approximately log-normally with a geometric mean of 0.37 and a range of 0.01 to 6.0 pCi 1/sup -1/ h/sup -1/. Successive measurements in six houses in the northeastern United States showed considerable variability in source magnitude within a given house. In two of these houses the source magnitude showed a strong correlation with the air-exchange rate, suggesting that soil gas influx can be an important transport process for indoor radon.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5823640
• Report Number(s): LBL-12484; CONF-810881-1; EEB-Vent-81-8; ON: DE82000774; TRN: 82-000939
• Resource Relation: Conference: US Environmental Protection Agency meeting on radon and radon progeny measurement, Montgomery, AL, USA, 27 Aug 1981
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
HOUSES
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
RADIATION MONITORING
RADON
RADIOACTIVITY
AIR
CORRELATIONS
DATA COMPILATION
DIFFUSION
POLLUTION SOURCES
RADIATION SOURCES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
SOILS
VARIATIONS
VENTILATION
AIR POLLUTION
BUILDINGS
DATA
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FLUIDS
GASES
INFORMATION
MASS TRANSFER
MONITORING
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
POLLUTION
RARE GASES
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
500300* - Environment
Atmospheric- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)