Long-term comparison and performance study of consumer grade electronic radon integrating monitors.

This study reports the performance of 7 types of consumer grade passive Electronic Radon Integrating Monitors, ERIM (AlphaE, AER Plus, Canary, Corentium Pro, Radon Scout Home, Ramon and Wave) and passive etched track radon detectors. All monitors and passive radon detectors were exposed side by side for 2 periods of 3 months under controlled conditions in the UKHSA radon chamber and in a stainless steel container to an average radon concentration of 4781 Bq mand 166 Bq m, respectively. The performance of each individual monitor was compared with Atmos 12DPX and AlphaGUARD P30 reference instruments.

Variability of indoor radon concentration in UK homes.

This study investigated the variability of indoor radon concentrations in 518 100 homes in the UK. The statistical analysis included measurements in 395 720 homes with downstairs living rooms and upstairs bedrooms. The radon concentration in these bedrooms was found to be on average 63% of the living room value.

Study of baseline radon levels in the context of a shale gas development.

This study reports the results from continuous measurement of indoor and outdoor radon concentrations in the area surrounding an unconventional shale gas exploration site in North Yorkshire, England, prior to the commencement of hydraulic fracturing. Public Health England has monitored the baseline radon levels in homes and in outdoor air in the Vale of Pickering since 2015. The statistical analysis presented here includes three full years (November 2015- -December 2018) of indoor and four and half years (October 2015 - April 2019) of outdoor radon measurements.

Home energy efficiency and radon: An observational study.

Exposure to radon gas is the second leading cause of lung cancer worldwide behind smoking. Changing the energy characteristics of a dwelling can influence both its thermal and ventilative properties, which can affect indoor air quality. This study uses radon measurements made in 470 689 UK homes between 1980 and 2015, linked to dwelling information contained within the Home Energy Efficiency Database (HEED).

RADON BASELINE MONITORING AROUND A POTENTIAL SHALE GAS DEVELOPMENT SITE IN YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND.

The Vale of Pickering in Yorkshire, England has been identified as a potential area for shale gas extraction. Public Health England joined a collaboration led by the British Geological Survey for environmental baseline monitoring near the potential shale gas extraction site following a grant award from UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The analysis of results for the first 6 months of indoor monitoring indicated that the results followed a log-normal distribution.

New Correction Factors Based on Seasonal Variability of Outdoor Temperature for Estimating Annual Radon Concentrations in UK.

Indoor radon concentrations generally vary with season. Radon gas enters buildings from beneath due to a small air pressure difference between the inside of a house and outdoors. This underpressure which draws soil gas including radon into the house depends on the difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures.

Indoor radon measurements in south west England explained by topsoil and stream sediment geochemistry, airborne gamma-ray spectroscopy and geology.

Predictive mapping of indoor radon potential often requires the use of additional datasets. A range of geological, geochemical and geophysical data may be considered, either individually or in combination. The present work is an evaluation of how much of the indoor radon variation in south west England can be explained by four different datasets: a) the geology (G), b) the airborne gamma-ray spectroscopy (AGR), c) the geochemistry of topsoil (TSG) and d) the geochemistry of stream sediments (SSG).

Radon, the lognormal distribution and deviation from it.

It has been recognised for many years that the distributions of indoor radon concentrations in many countries conform more or less closely to a lognormal distribution. For homes situated over a single geological unit with a consistent source of radon in the ground, conformance with the lognormal distribution can be understood in terms of the multiplicative factors affecting the relationship between radium in the ground and radon in indoor air. The fact that national as well as local distributions of indoor radon also usually conform to the lognormal can be attributed to the fact that the mixture of a number of different lognormal distributions will often result in a lognormal distribution.