Factors influencing temporal variations of radon concentration in high-rise buildings

Seasonal Variation of Radon Concentrations in Russian Residential High-Rise Buildings

“…With the corresponding parameters aD, AER = 1 h −1 and radon concentration in the atmosphere of 5 Bq/m 3 , in order to achieve Rn min = 108 Bq/m 3 , it is necessary to take an additional entry equal to about 80 Bq/ (m 3 h). As shown in the study of indoor radon temporal variations in multistorey buildings [31], this entry may be associated with advective flows inside the building from service premises with low air exchange to living rooms. High advective entry due to flows between different parts of a house can be observed in buildings with low air exchange in uncontrolled mode and high Ra−226 content in building materials [46].…”

“…The Figure 1 shows the duration of the series using the atmospheric temperature scale during the measurement period. The series included in this analysis cover temperature ranges between highest and lowest outdoor temperatures from 20 to 50 • C. Most of these series were previously used in studies of factors influencing the radon entry and accumulation in multistorey buildings [31]. This analysis also includes series that were not previously considered in the mentioned studies due to the low radon concentration and the inability to determine the intervals of controlled and uncontrolled air exchange.…”

“…When constructing a model of the dependence of radon concentration on the outdoor temperature, a basic physical model of radon entry into a flat in a multistorey building was used, whose separate parts are described in the previous studies [31,33,47]. The model is based on a theoretical concept of the mechanisms of indoor radon entry appeared in the 1980s and 1990s when the scientific community developed a general strategy on protection against indoor radon [51][52][53].…”

“…Bossew et al [15] consider the tendency to open windows in summer and keep them closed in winter, which leads to higher indoor accumulation of geogenic radon in winter. The normal seasonality is also observed in temperate and continental climate countries when radon diffusion from building materials is the dominant source of radon entry and the "normal" ventilation is plasticized [31,32]. Model of radon entry and accumulation in multi-flat buildings developed by Yarmoshenko et al [33] for Russian climatic conditions predicts deviation from the normal seasonality in flats where low ventilation frequency is maintained.…”

“…In particular the role of building materials as a source of indoor radon at high storeys was revealed [46]. Important information on ventilation patterns was obtained as well [31,47].…”