| What is Radon? |
- What is Radon?
- What is a Pico Curie per Liter?
- What Makes Radon Dangerous?
- What Is The Cancer Risk That is Associated With Radon?
- What Are The Risks Associate With the US EPA’s 4.0 pCi/l Standard for Corrective Action?
- What Are the Radon Concentration is the Area That I Am Concerned About?
- How Does Radon Get into Homes and Buildings?
- How Do You Reduce Radon? |
| What is Radon? |
Radon is a colorless, odorless, tasteless naturally occurring radioactive gas that is produced from the breakdown of uranium in the soil. Radon is drawn into homes and buildings because the air pressure in the building is lower than that of the underlying soil. Radon enters through structural openings, cracks and migration through the floor slab itself. The US EPA and the NJDEP have established a standard for corrective action at 4.0 pico curies per liter (pCi/l).
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| What is a Pico Curie per Liter? |
A Curie is a unit of radiation named after the 1920’s Scientist Madame Curie who was the first to determine the decay rate of radium. A Curie is the number of disintegrations associated with the decay of one gram of radium. A pico Curie is one trillionth of a Curie. A liter is slightly less than an US quart. A pico Curie per liter represents approximately 2.2 alpha particle releases per minute per liter of air. Each lung has a capacity of approximately one liter. 4.0 pCi/l equates to about nine radiation events per minute.
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| What Makes Radon Dangerous? |  |
As radon itself decays, it produces a family of radioactive decay products. These decay products are heavy metals polonium, bismuth and lead. Radon itself is chemically inert and it does not stick to lung tissue when it is ingested. The metallic decay products (which in some cases may be electrostatically charged) do adhere to dust particles and the lung surface. When they decay wave length and particle radiation are produced resulting lung tissue damage and potentially mutagenic cells. The greater the exposure, the greater the risk of protracting Lung Cancer.
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| What Is The Cancer Risk That is Associated With Radon? |
Radon is a Class A carcinogen. This classification was designated based on scientific studies that used human data, animal data as well as a solid understanding of the effects of ionizing radiation on lung tissue. Radon is estimated to cause between 17,000 to 21,000 lung cancer deaths annually. In fact the Surgeon General has warned that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. Only smoking causes more lung cancer.
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| What Are The Risks Associate With the US EPA’s 4.0 pCi/l Standard for Corrective Action? |
Other environmental exposures are regulated to reduce the lifetime risk of cancer to one in 100,000. The EPA lists Radon risk exposure to 4.0 pCi/l for a lifetime (18 hours per day) to cause 7 additional lung cancers in a thousand non-smokers or 62 additional lung cancers in 1000 smokers. The risk is considered linear which means even 2 pCi/L for a lifetime would cause 3 additional cancers in a 1000 non-smokers. Fortunately, most of us are not exposed for a lifetime; however, we would get a similar risk if we were exposed to four times as much for a quarter of a lifetime or 16 pCi/L in your bedroom for 17 years. Read more about radon health risks here.
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| What Are the Radon Concentration is the Area That I Am Concerned About? |
The US EPA and the New Jersey DEP have produced Maps indicating areas of radon concentration. New Jersey has designated all municipalities into one of three tiers based on the potential for a home or school to have a radon problem. All new residential homes and schools constructed in tier one must have passive radon piping and comply with the Radon Hazard Sub-Code N.J.A.C. 5:23-10. All schools constructed under the administration of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority (NJSDA) must have radon preconstruction piping installed.
New Jersey Radon Tier Map
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EPA Zone Map
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| How Does Radon Get into Homes and Buildings? |
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Radon is drawn into buildings from the underlying soil by the negative pressures that are associated with the interior envelope structure. The three most common factors are temperature differentials where warm air exiting the upper portion of the building induces stack effect. Wind and exhaust appliances create additional vacuum. These forces that are similar to lift associated with an airplane wing draw in soil gases through cracks, conduit openings and other pathways.
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| How Do You Reduce Radon? |  |
The primary method for reducing radon is active soil depressurization. This is accomplished by installing a radon mitigation system. A radon mitigation system prevents radon entry into a building by creating a negative pressure beneath the slab. A radon mitigation system will draw radon from beneath the slab, through PVC piping to the exterior of the building where it is vented above the roofline and quickly diluted with ambient air. The radon mitigation system also removes moisture and other soil born pollutants that can enter the building and, therefore, improves the overall indoor air quality of the building.
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