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

Abstract

Assessment of the annual radon concentration is often required in indoor radon surveys of territories and individual dwellings for comparison with reference levels, studying factors affecting radon accumulation in dwellings, assessment of exposure in epidemiological studies, etc. The indoor radon surveys were carried out in multistorey buildings in eight Russian cities using solid state nuclear track detectors with an exposure period of three months. For these surveys, the estimation of annual indoor radon concentration was required to compare radon levels in buildings of high- and low-energy-efficiency classes located in different cities. To develop approaches to seasonal normalization in high-rise buildings, long-term one-hour radon concentration series obtained applying radon-monitors in 20 flats were analyzed. The dependency of indoor radon concentration on the indoor–outdoor temperature difference was studied taking into account the known natural, technogenic and anthropogenic factors affecting radon levels. The developed model of seasonal variations in multistorey buildings includes winter, summer, and demi-season periods, which differ both in ventilation intensity and dependency of radon concentration on the temperature difference. The developed model allows to estimate annual radon concentration taking into account the actual distribution of outdoor temperatures during the exposure of the track detectors.

Gini Method Application: Indoor Radon Survey in Kpong, Ghana

“…Also, in the Adelikhah et al, 2021 work [20] conducted in dwellings in Mashhad, Iran, indoor radon concentrations in dwellings were higher than our results. In the Yarmoshenko et al study [37] specifically to the city of Nizhny Novgorod in Russia, the indoor radon concentrations in dwellings showed a lower radon concentration than that obtained in the present study. Finally, in Yeboah, [32], an indoor radon concentration similar to that obtained in the present study was shown.…”

Semi-empirical modeling of the temporal variation of indoor radon concentration over short periods

“…Therefore, in our model, the dots are connected by a straight line that has the best fit, with passing it through the origin. Lastly, equations (24) and (10) come from averaging the outside radon concentrations over different seasons and relating these to the corresponding indoor radon concentrations [15][16][17]. For a better argument, the parameter a o has to be determined for at most the season during which the concerned indoor radon concentration data were taken.…”

“…That is the temporal change of the indoor radon concentration. Experimental studies in the literature usually monitored the change of radon with time over long periods, on daily, weekly or monthly basis [14][15][16][17]. Theoretical studies on the other hand mostly considered steady-state cases [18][19][20].…”

“…It could be much higher in poorly ventilated mines. Moreover, it largely varies with seasons and the atmosphere conditions[16,17].…”

Editorial for the Special Issue “Atmospheric Radon Measurements, Control, Mitigation and Management”

“…The published articles are intended to provide guidance and solutions for correctly measuring and evaluating radon in different environments and the efficient management of radon levels in affected buildings for radiation protection of the population. An attempt has been made to classify the contributions below [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]:  Three papers aim to define radon awareness and policy perspectives, to set-up radon specific norms to control of the health risk of radon exposure in the Republic of Moldova and to better define measurement procedures, approaches and standard guidelines for Romanian Schools.…”