UNCERTAINTY OF THE RESULTS OF THE RADON CONTROL IN HOUSINGS. PART 1. THE PROBLEM OF ASSESSMENT OF THE RADON CONCENTRATION AND MODERN CONTROL PRINCIPLES

Radon control in buildings is being performed for decades in different countries of the world, including Russia. However, there is a lack of unified standard for the assessment of the uncertainty of the results of the control, considering the protocol and duration of the measurements. It is obvious that the uncertainty of the control increases with the reduction of the duration of the measurements. The lack of data on confidence interval for the average annual radon concentration in housings does not allow correct and precise comparison with the regulatory level, both for the commissioned and operated buildings. Additionally, it complicates a development of the effective method, mass control strategy and identification of buildings with high radon concertations. A reliable method of control, considering time variations of radon and duration of exposure, was developed in Russia several years ago, but it is not well-known and not applied on practice. This paper is focused on a novel principle of radon control, based on simple criteria, widely used in metrology and complying to the modern standards. This principle introduces a new parameter – the radon time variation coefficient KV(t), which reflects main constituent of the uncertainty of the average annual radon concentration depending on the protocol and duration of the measurements. A novel algorithm for the estimation of KV(t) is proposed, developed on the base of the results of continuous annual radon monitoring in representative experimental housings. Additionally, the structure of the correcting coefficient is presented, considering an impact of the temperature on the radon behavior. The use of the corrective coefficient allows lowering the KV(t)value, but its application is limited.

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