Investigation of radon entry and effectiveness of mitigation measures in seven houses in New Jersey

Technical Report · Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1989

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5489378· OSTI ID:5489378

Dudney, C. S.; Hubbard, L. M.; Matthews, T. G.; Socolow, R. H.; Hawthorne, A. R.; Gadsby, K. J.; Harrje, D. T.; Bohac, D. L.; Wilson, D. L. ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)

This report describes the results from a year-long, intensive, instrumented study of radon entry processes and the effectiveness of radon mitigation measures in seven occupied New Jersey houses. All of the houses that were studied are basement houses that had elevated radon levels (i.e., greater than 400 and less than 7500 Bq m{sup {minus}3}) prior to the study. Various mitigation strategies were evaluated in the houses. The most successful strategy was depressurization of the soil beneath the concrete slab of the basement. To achieve subslab depressurization, one or more slab penetration points were selected for each house. The most important diagnostic measurement in selection of effective slab penetration points was testing of air flows between potential penetrations and points on the slab perimeter. Careful sealing of the wall to the slab was found to increase the effective zone of depressurization beneath the slab. 100 figs., 35 tabs.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/ER; EPA; NJDENVP
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 5489378
• Report Number(s): ORNL-6487; ON: DE89016676
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320107* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Building Systems-- (1987-)
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BASEMENTS
BUILDINGS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DEPRESSURIZATION
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FEDERAL REGION II
HEAVY NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MITIGATION
NEW JERSEY
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEI
RADIOECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
RADIOISOTOPES
RADON 222
RADON ISOTOPES
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
SEALS
SLABS
SOILS
USA