Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Radon and remedial action in Spokane River Valley homes: Final report to the Bonneville Power Administration: Volume 1, Experimental design and data analysis

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6860138

Fifty-seven percent of 46 residences surveyed in the Spokane River Valley/Rathdrum Prairie region of eastern Washington/Northern Idaho had heating season indoor radon concentrations above the Bonneville Power Administration Mitigation Action Level of 5 pCi/L, while 65% were above US Environmental Protection Agency guideline of 4 pCi/L. Six of these measurements were greater than 20 pCi/L. Fourteen houses from this region and one house from Vancouver, Washington were selected for more intensive monitoring and testing of radon remedial action techniques. The primary radon source was pressure-driven flow of soil gas containing moderate radon concentrations (283 to 673 pCi/L) from the highly permeable (10/sup minus 10/ to 10/sup minus 13/ m/sup 2/) soils surrounding the house substructures. Radon from other sources, including potable water and building materials, was negligible. In the high radon homes, winter indoor levels averaged 12.6 times higher than summer, while a group of low radon homes averaged only 2.5 times higher. Several radon control strategies proved to be effective. 63 refs., 47 figs., 17 tabs.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC03-76SF00098; AI79-83BP12921
OSTI ID:
6860138
Report Number(s):
LBL-23430; ON: DE88014032
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English