Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 1 Summary of indoor radon concentration thresholds (Bq/m
3
) (Bochicchio
2011
)
Organization
Previous/current
Recent/forthcoming
Dwellings
Workplaces
Dwellings
Workplaces
ICRP
B600
B1,500
B300
WHO
250
100
EU
400
B1,000
B300
B1,000
Table 2
Status of radon situation in several European countries
Country
Action level
for
remediation
(Bq/m
3
)
Target
level for
prevention
(Bq/m
3
)
Status of remediation
Estimated
number of
dwellings
Exceeding the
action level
Already remediated
Austria
400
200
3,700,000
89,000 (2.4 %)
25 (0 %)
Belgium
400
200
5,043,000
20,000 (0.4 %)
1,000 (5 %)
Czech Republic
400
200
3,900,000
76,000 (1.9 %)
4,000 (5.3 %)
Finland
400
200
2,450,000
59,000 (2.4 %)
4,500 (7.6 %)
France
400
-
32,756,000
968,500 (3 %)
-
Germany
100
100
39,900,000
1,930,000 (4.8 %)
1,000 (0.1 %)
Greece
400
200
5,627,000
-
-
Ireland
200
200
1,934,000
91,000 (4.7 %)
-
Italy
200
200
22,000,000
902 000(4.1 %)
500 (0.1 %)
Norway
100
100
2,274,000
427 00(18.8 %)
-
Portugal
400
400
-
2.6 %
-
Spain
-
-
-
-
-
Switzerland
400
400
4,000,000
75,000 (1.9 %)
500 (0.7 %)
UK
200
200
23,000,000
100,000 (0.4 %)
15,000 (15 %)
set different reference levels for new and existing buildings, with lower values for
new houses (WHO
2009
).
WHO proposes a reference level of 100 Bq/m
3
to minimize health hazards due
to indoor radon exposure. However, if this level cannot be reached under the
prevailing country-specific conditions, the chosen reference level should not
exceed 300 Bq/m
3
.
Table
1
shows how different international organizations recommend very dif-
ferent indoor radon concentration thresholds. However, one thing they have in
common, recent and forthcoming thresholds are much lower than the previous
ones.
Table
2
presents the different action levels and target levels of the currently
used situation in several European countries as well as the status of the radon
situation in those countries (Holmegren and Arvela
2012
).
The data show that only Germany and Norway have conservative action and
target levels (100 Bq/m
3
) which are in line with the threshold recommended by the
WHO. In the remaining countries, two different situations can be identified, the
case of Italy, Ireland, and UK that have an action and target levels (200 Bq/m
3
)
below the ICRP threshold and the countries that still have the threshold of 200 Bq/m
3
as action level or both, like it happens in Switzerland and Portugal.
