Investigations of Soil as a Source of Indoor Radon
Abstract
The predominant source of indoor radon in most single-family housing in the U.S. is the soil adjacent to the house substructure. We have examined factors influencing the production and transport of radon in soil and into buildings. A number of important parameters have been identified and their effect on radon production and migration assessed, including radium concentration, moisture content, air permeability, and grain size distribution of soils. The potential regional variations in parameters affecting radon have been evaluated by examining geographic data, including surface radium concentrations and general soil data. We have also investigated factors influencing radon migration into individual dwellings. Coupling between the building shell and the surrounding soil has been demonstrated experimentally, and pressure-field mapping and soil permeability measurements have been carried out.
Additional Information
© 1987 American Chemical Society. Received August 20, 1986. Published in print 5 February 1987. This paper has benefitted from reviews by H. Wallman and D. Grimsrud of LBL. This work was supported by the Assistant Secretary for Conservation and Renewable Energy, Office of Building and Community Systems, Building Systems Division, and by the Director, Office of Energy Research, Office of Health and Environmental Research, Human Health and Assessments Division and Pollutant Characterization and Safety Research Division of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098. It was also supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through Interagency Agreement DW89930801-01-0 with DOE. Although the research described here is partially supported by the EPA, it has not been subjected to EPA review and therefore does not necessarily reflect the views of EPA, and no official endorsement by EPA should be inferred.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 85625
- DOI
- 10.1021/bk-1987-0331.ch002
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20180405-071623820
- DE-AC03-76SF00098
- Department of Energy (DOE)
- DW89930801-01-0
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- Created
-
2018-04-05Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-15Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Series Name
- ACS Symposium Series
- Series Volume or Issue Number
- 331