Radon in Irish schools: the results of a national survey

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a survey of radon concentrations in Irish primary and post-primary schools. The objective of this survey was to assess the distribution of radon in Irish schools and to identify those requiring remedial work to reduce radon exposure to children and staff. All primary and post-primary schools were invited to participate in the survey. Indoor radon concentrations were measured during the academic year using integrating passive alpha track-etch detectors with a measurement period from three to nine months. The survey was carried out on a phased basis from 1998 to 2004 and is one of the most comprehensive of its kind undertaken in Europe. Measurements were completed in 38 531 ground floor classrooms and offices in 3826 schools, representing over 95% of the approximate 4000 primary and post-primary schools in Ireland. Of these, 984 schools had radon concentrations greater than 200 Bq m(-3) in 3028 rooms and 329 schools had radon concentrations in excess of 400 Bq m(-3) in 800 rooms. The average radon concentration in schools was 93 Bq m(-3). This results in an annual average effective dose to an Irish child from exposure to radon of 0.3 mSv per year, assuming that the long-term radon concentration is equal to the radon concentration present during the working hours and that the annual average occupancy is 1000 h per year. A programme of remediation of schools with radon concentrations above 200 Bq m(-3) has been put in place.

Radon in indoor air of primary schools: determinant factors, their variability and effective dose

“…The mean radon concentration measured in this work (197 Bq/m 3 ) is lower than that measured in surveys carried out in other countries such as Italy and Romania (Burghele and Cosma 2012;Trevisi et al 2012), as well as in Greece (Clouvas et al 2011), where the percentage of schools with radon concentration exceeding 400 Bq/ m 3 is also higher than the percentage obtained in the current survey. In opposition, and as an example, the mean concentration in the 13 Portuguese schools is higher than those reported for schools in Ireland (Synnott et al 2006) even though the percentage of schools with radon concentration higher that 400 Bq/ m 3 is considerably lower. The percentage of primary schools exceeding 400 Bq/m 3 is also inferior to those Year of school building construction -4.9 -8.6; -1.1…”

“…Large surveys in schools are thus considered an important component of a national radon programme, and several studies have been performed in many European countries such as Belgium (Poffijn et al 1992), Greece (Papaefthymiou and Georgiou 2007), Ireland (Synnott et al 2006) and Italy (Trevisi et al 2012;Giovani et al 2001).…”

Indoor radon levels in schools of South-East Italy

“…Since the number of sampling points on lower floors (ground floor and basement) was much higher compared with those on the first floor, radon values relating to each building can be considered as being rather overestimated. Nevertheless, it can be pointed out that e as in other radon measurement campaigns in schools (Clouvas et al, 2011;Rahman et al, 2009;Synnot et al, 2006) e the choice of monitoring principally rooms located on the ground floor arose from the fact that, except for secondary schools, a large number of schools are ground-floor-only structures.…”

Radon: exploring the log-normal mystery

“…(For its recent status see Tollefsen et al, 2009;also Dubois et al, in this issue. ) The data are arithmetic means (AMs) of indoor Rn concentrations in ground floor rooms (estimated annual mean) within 10 Â 10 km 2 cells, aligned to a common metric coordinate system.…”