Home Radon Questions?

Question

We recently found out our basement has high levels of radon. We know what we can do to help, but I have some questions. Also, the measurement they use to measure the amount of radon, we have 50 something. How long do you need to be exposed to it for it to harm you at that rate? If it affected me, will the affects show now, or later when I'm older?

Answer 1

The European Union recommends that action should be taken starting from concentrations of 400 Bq/m3 for old houses and 200 Bq/m3 for new ones. Health Canada has a guideline from 1988 that recommends action when the annual average concentration in a normal living area exceeds 800 Bq/m3, although they are proposing a new guideline that lowers the action level to 200 Bq/m3. The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement (NCRP) in the US recommends action for any house with a concentration higher than 8 pCi/L. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) strongly recommends action for any house with a concentration higher than 148 Bq/m3 (given as 4 pCi/L), and encourages action starting at 74 Bq/m3 (given as 2 pCi/L). EPA radon risk level tables including comparisons to other risks encountered in life are available in their citizen's guide. Nearly one in 15 homes in the U.S. has a high level of indoor radon according to their statistics. The U.S. Surgeon General and EPA recommend all homes be tested for radon. Since 1985, millions of homes have been tested for radon in the U.S. The highest statewide average radon concentrations are found in Iowa where over 70% of short-term screening measurements are over the EPA's action level of 4 pCi/L. The highest regional radon concentrations occur in the counties surrounding Three Mile Island in PA." These are acceptrable levels of radon but there is no such a thing as completely safe level of radon in a home.

`For more info see the links below. Good luck.

Answer 2

Info of use to you is found here:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=radon+levels&rs=2&fr2=rs-top&search=Radon+Detector&ei=UTF-8&ico-yahoo-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAno2qZPThSJbYAPYGtVoKlwazKIX%2FSIG%3D111gjvvgj%2F%2A-http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch&ico-wikipedia-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAlOLrAFaAVzw0JO3_9VGx_4azKIX%2FSIG%3D11ia1qo58%2F%2A%2Ahttp%253a%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%253aSearch&fr=ks-ans

Fifty something you can find there, it's pretty meaningless without relation to some standard of measurement...

AS TO YOUR RISK, if you are young and did not sleep most of your life in the basement, do not worry.

Radiation is seldom encountered in lethal amounts over a short period (except for flying into mushroom cloud or dousing Chernobyl fires from helicopter and the like).

However, small doses are cumulative. This means many small doses tend to ADD UP to a significant risk. So, you may wish to avoid work in a Nuclear Power Plant Containment, or may wish to avoid becoming an X-ray Technician or Radioactive Contamination Disposal Expert &c.

Radon enhances the risk of Lung Cancer, so when you find out exactly what your Radon monitor readout was, i.e., 50 WHAT? and what scale this relates to, how far into the danger (red) zone, then take it to your doctor, answer questions she/he may have about your exposure and see how often you should get a chest X-ray. A RADIOLOGIST (the doctor in the hospital X-ray Dept) is a very good doctor to ask, most others probably not.

Look for one aged about 40--45 to get an even better, experienced, answer.

TIME -- DISTANCE -- SHIELDING:
Less time exposed is better, a greater distance is better, a lead shield is better (there are different types of shields for different types of radiation.....)

But the T-D-S Rule applies to all exposures. A rule somewhat similar for SAFES, the thickness of the walls is related to the magnitude of the temptation inside, thus armored cars are necessary....This info is so you can wax philosophical....keeping out of dangerous areas, driving carefully, decreasing your risk in other ways can help to even out your odds in life compared to those who were not exposed to RADON !!!

Don't laugh! Or rather, YES, smile, but I am quite serious.

There is much useful info at the URL given above.