APPLICABILITY OF VENTILATION SYSTEMS FOR REDUCING THE INDOOR RADON CONCENTRATION.

An analysis is presented of the ability of balanced mechanical ventilation systems to reduce the radon concentration in residential buildings efficiently. The analysis takes into account the following parameters: radon supply rate into the building, ventilation intensity, required indoor radon concentration and energy consumption. It is shown that the applicability of ventilation systems is limited mainly by energy consumption. Ventilation systems can be considered energetically acceptable if the ventilation intensity does not exceed 0.6 h-1, i.e. radon supply rate should not exceed 60 Bq/m3h for a required indoor radon concentration of 100 Bq/m3. Energy consumption can be significantly reduced by operating the ventilation system in a cyclic mode. Simulating the behavior of ventilation systems in time has been found as a useful tool for their design. In order to express by one parameter energy consumption and radon reduction, a completely new quantity-the 'radon-related energy need' has been proposed.