A differentiated approach to the risk assessment from exposure to radon

Abstract

The paper presents the methods of risk assessment from exposure to radon. Proposed methods implement a differentiated approach to the risk estimates calculation procedure which depends on the purpose of risk assessment. This approach is based on the analysis of the results of practical tests of different risk assessment models on arrays Russian medical and demographic data with and without consideration of the synergistic effect of smoking, in simple and complex exposure scenarios. All of these tests were performed in previous 5 years (results are available elsewhere). In this work the evaluation of effectiveness of radon mitigation actions in schools was used as a test task and results obtained using 4 models («EPA-2003», «Wismut-2006», «FCZ» and «Tomasek-2014») were compared. If it is important to evaluate the effect of reduction of radon concentration on the health of children and adolescents in terms of lifetime
lung cancer risk, «Tomasek-2014» model will be the best choice. It is as sensitive as «FCZ» model and ERR is close to that from «Wismut-2006» model, which was earlier proposed by other authors for use with some modifications in Russia. If the data on radon concentration are limited (for example data from radiation-hygienic passports of territories) and constant lifelong exposure scenario is considered, it seems reasonable to apply more simple «Darby-2005» model. Thus, the proposed methods could be used by specialists in various fields in a wide range of tasks, from the risk assessment for  the purposes of radiation-hygienic certification and comparative assessment of radiation safety of the population of different regions of Russia on the basis of the generalized statistical data, to the risk assessment in practical works where large amounts of measurement data on the radon concentration and complex exposure scenarios are used.