Radon is a radioactive gas that is only found in trace amounts in nature. Human activities are responsible for the majority of radon chemicals found in the environment. Radon is released into the atmosphere through soil, uranium and phosphate mining, and coal burning.
Radon is a radioactive gas that is only found in trace amounts in nature. Human activities are responsible for the majority of radon chemicals found in the environment. Radon is released into the atmosphere through soil, uranium and phosphate mining, and coal burning.
Radon has a radioactive half-life of about four days. This means that half of a given amount of radon will decay to other, usually less dangerous chemicals every four days.
As radon is a (unreactive) chemically inert gas, it may travel swiftly over rock and soil and get to the surface. Radon-222 has a half-life of 3.8 days. Radon-222 produces alpha radiation and transforms to polonium-218, a shorter-term radioactive solid, when it undergoes radioactive decay. After many additional changes (particle loss or nuclear radiation), the sequence terminates with stable lead-206.
Radon is absorbed in water and exposes water to the atmosphere, particularly when the water is disturbed. Subterranean water, unlike rivers and lakes, can contain high amounts of radon. Radon which decomposes in water produces only solid decaying products which remain in water as they decaying to stable state.
People are generally exposed to radon from breathing radon in air that enters through cracks and crevices in buildings and residences. Because radon comes from the earth naturally, that’s why individuals are constantly exposed to it.
Trace levels of radon can be ingested through food and drink. On the other hand, inhalation is the most common way radon and its decay products enter the body. Particulates and aerosols in the air that we breathe may bind to radon decay products (for example, cooking oil vapors). Some of these particles are retained in the lungs after inhalation. When tobacco is smoked, radon decay products cling to the leaves and enter the lungs. Smoke in indoor environments is robust at picking up radon decay products from the air and making them available for inhalation. Radon decay products are believed to play a substantial role in the risk of lung cancer caused by cigarette smoke.
We inhale radon every day; the compound of this chemical is all around us. In fact, even if it’s at a low level, you’re probably breathing it in every day. You can’t know whether you’re inhaling it at a high level, though. The hazard of radon exposure is that it is invisible, tasteless, and odorless. You won’t have any signs to warn you, either.
Radon enters the lining of your lungs and emits radiation when you breathe it in. This can damage the cells in the lungs over time, leading to lung cancer.
According to U.S. reports, radon causes nearly 20,000 lung cancer cases each year, making it the second biggest cause of lung cancer after cigarette smoking. Lung cancer is a very real possibility if you breathe a lot of radon and smoke.
In urine, blood, lung, and bone tissue, several decay products can be found. These diagnostics, however, are not commonly available through traditional medical facilities. Also, they cannot determine accurate /exposure levels since most radon decay products deliver their dose and decay within a few hours.
The best technique to determine radon exposure is to measure radon (or radon decay products) concentrations in the air you breathe at home.
Radon can not be touched, seen, and felt. The most effective way to know if you and your family are at risk from radon is testing your home. If we believe the EPA and the Surgeon General, they highly recommend testing for radon in homes below the third floor. They also recommend testing in schools. It doesn’t take much of your costs and time. Thousands of people in the United States have already tested their homes for radon. Various low-cost self-testing kits are available through the mail and in hardware stores and other retail outlets. You can also take the help of a professional to do the redon testing for you.
The first thing you can do is test your house for radon, and if it is at or above EPA’s Action Level of 4 picocuries per liter, you must fix the radon levels by contacting a contractor.
The optimal strategy for lowering radon in your home will be determined by how radon enters your home and how your home is designed. Some systems remove radon from the crawl space or beneath the concrete floor or basement slab, effectively preventing radon entering your home. These systems are simple and don’t require significant changes to your home. Other methods may be necessary.
If you have private wells, then it would be best to test your well water to make sure that radon levels meet the EPA’s proposed standard.
In 1988, Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Surgeon General recommended testing the home below the third floor for radon. They also recommended fixing homes with If the radon levels at or above four picocuries per liter (pCi/L) in your home, it is recommended to fix it.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched a voluntary program to raise radon awareness, testing, and reduction. The program establishes an ‘Action Level’ of 4 picocuries per liter (pCi/l) air for indoor radon. The action level for radon in the home is not the maximum safe level; nonetheless, the lower the radon level, the better. In general, levels can be brought below two pCi/l with relative ease.
Apart from working with homeowners, they also work with building code organizations & home builders. The objectives are to make new dwellings more radon-resistant and encourage radon testing when existing homes are sold.
