Procedure for the characterization of radon potential in existing dwellings and to assess the annual average indoor radon concentration

Collignan, Bernard; Powaga, Emilie

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2014.06.024

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our results are in general agreement with findings in previous work which used a smaller dataset (N ~ 40 000) and showed that homes with double glazing have radon concentrations 66% higher than those without, similar studies exist in France and Switzerland . Our findings add weight to previous modeling work which showed that the air tightening of the English housing stock could raise radon levels by an average of 57% .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Home energy efficiency and radon: An observational study

Symonds¹,

Rees

Daraktchieva

et al. 2019

Indoor Air

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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). The linked dataset, the largest of its kind, was used to analyze the association of housing and energy performance characteristics with indoor radon concentrations in the UK. The findings show that energy efficiency measures that increase the airtightness of properties are observed to have an adverse association with indoor radon levels. Homes with double glazing installed had radon measurements with a significantly higher geometric mean, 67% (95% CI: 44, 89) greater than those without a recorded fabric retrofit. Those with loft insulation (47%, 95% CI: 26, 69) and wall insulation (32%, 95% CI: 11, 53) were also found to have higher radon readings. Improving the energy performance of the UK's housing stock is vital in meeting carbon emission reduction targets. However, compromising indoor air quality must be avoided through careful assessment and implementation practices.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Home energy efficiency and radon: An observational study

Symonds¹,

Rees

Daraktchieva

et al. 2019

Indoor Air

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…• The first step consists of the quantification of the soil contaminant mass flux by using a novel "experimental box" that aims to reproduce the behaviour of a real building. The principles of this quantification are based on previous works conducted to assess radon flux from the ground coming into a building [24,25]. • The second step consists of the characterisation of an equivalent homogeneous concentration of the contamination associated with a given depth, using the experimental results obtained with the "experimental box".…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methodology for the in situ characterisation of soil vapor contaminants and their impact on the indoor air quality of buildings

Collignan

Diallo

Traverse³

et al. 2020

Building and Environment

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study presents a fast and nonintrusive in situ methodology to characterise the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) fluxes of contaminated sites and to quantify their intrusion into future buildings built on these sites. It could be used to conduct exhaustive ground pre-characterisation and indoor air assessments for future on-site buildings. The methodology involved the use of a specific apparatus called the "experimental box", representing convective and diffusive transfers of soil gas pollutants into buildings, to quantify an equivalent homogeneous concentration of the contaminant in the soil gas. Furthermore, this equivalent homogeneous concentration was used to quantify the indoor air pollutant concentration in a future building using an analytical transfer model associated with a numerical ventilation model. This methodology was applied on an experimental site. A critical analysis highlights its interest as a powerful complementary tool to constitute complementary support for decision-making methods and for human health risk assessment.

show abstract

“…The relative error when comparing the predicted radon concentration to experimental measurement ranged from 4.9 to 21.6%, which compared well with the accuracy of the passive methodology of approximately 25%. Collignan and Powaga 17 further characterised the radon potential in 13 French dwellings and assessed the annual average indoor radon concentration for different meteorological conditions and building characteristics. The study used a computational model to estimate the air renewal within the building and consequently, the indoor radon concentration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An approach to predicting indoor radon concentration based on depressurisation measurements

McGrath

Byrne

2020

Indoor and Built Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Exposure to radon is recognised as the second-leading cause of lung cancer after tobacco smoke. The passive measurements typically take up to three months to be representative of the annual radon concentration. A recently developed approach depressurises a dwelling to heighten the convective radon flux determining radon entry rate coefficients. The current study characterises the ventilation status, air tightness and eight selected hourly air change rates measurements, of a sample of naturally ventilated dwellings in Ireland. The household averaged air change rate ranged from 0.28 to 1.87 h−1 and airtightness measurements ranged from 4.830 to 9.423 m3 h−1 m−2 @ 50 Pa, depending on the building characteristics. The experimentally obtained values were used to parameterise a computational model for these selected dwellings and to predict radon concentrations. The radon entry rate power laws ranged from 0.18ΔP0.97 to 1.28ΔP1.18 Bq s−1. Probabilistic functions were generated based on the experimental data and predicted radon concentrations were within one standard deviation of the experimentally measured values in three out of four cases. The data generated can be used in modelling simulations to predict indoor radon concentrations based on local meteorological conditions, building characteristics, ventilation guidelines and energy-retrofit measurements.

show abstract

Procedure for the characterization of radon potential in existing dwellings and to assess the annual average indoor radon concentration

Cited by 11 publications

References 12 publications

Home energy efficiency and radon: An observational study

Home energy efficiency and radon: An observational study

Methodology for the in situ characterisation of soil vapor contaminants and their impact on the indoor air quality of buildings

An approach to predicting indoor radon concentration based on depressurisation measurements

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About