Radiation radon

Because there are few data on the results of human exposure to actinides, the health effects of these radioelements are more uncertain than those discussed above for ionizing radiation, radon, and fission products. Americium accumulates in bones and will likely cause bone cancer due to its radioactive decay. Animal studies suggest that plutonium will cause effects in the blood, liver, bone, lung, and immune systems. Other potential mechanisms of chemical toxicity and carcinogenicity of the actinides are similar to those of heavy metals and include (i) disruption of transport pathways for nutrients and ions (ii) displacement of essential metals such as Cu, Zn, and Ni ... 

Since the discovery in the Eighteenth Century of scrotal cancer in young chimney sweeps caused by exposure to soot, epidemiological studies have identified a considerable number of human carcinogens. The list includes cigarette smoke, asbestos, benzene, vinyl chloride, nickel, chromium, cadmium, alcohol, ionizing radiation, radon, benzidine and arsenic (1). Many of these discoveries have come from studies of workers in various industries. 

EPA. (1987d) Radon Reference Manual. EPA 520/1-87-20. Office of Radiation Programs. 

Effects of indoor air pollutants on humans are essentially the same as those described in Chapter 7. However, there can be some additional pollutant exposures in the indoor environment that are not common in the ambient setting. From the listing in Table 23-1, radon exposures indoors present a radiation hazard for the development of lung cancer. Environmental tobacco smoke has been found to cause lung cancer and other respiratory diseases. Biological agents such as molds and other toxins may be a more likely exposure hazard indoors than outside. 

COP 23 Approved Code of Practice COP 23-Part 3 Exposure to radon. The Ionizing Radiations Regulations... 

Radon (Rn) and Radon Decay Products Radon is a radioactive gas formed in the decay of uranium. The radon decay products (also called radon daughters or progeny) can be breathed into the lung where they continue to release radiation as they further decay. 

Deals with issues that affect the quality of our air and protection from exposure to harmful radiation. OAR de >el-ops national programs, technical policies, and regulations for controlling air pollution and radiation exposure. Areas of concern to OAR include indoor and outdoor air quality, stationaiy and mobile sources of air pollution, radon, acid rain, stratospheric ozone depletion, radiation protection, and pollution prevention. 

Radiation other titan radon Estimated 360 eaneers per year. Mostly from building materials. Medieal exposure and natural baekground levels not ineluded. 

Although the nucleus of the uranium atom is relatively stable, it is radioactive, and will remain that way for many years. The half-life of U-238 is over 4.5 billion years the half-life of U-235 is over 700 million years. (Half-life refers to the amount of time it takes for one half of the radioactive material to undergo radioactive decay, turning into a more stable atom.) Because of uranium radiation, and to a lesser extent other radioactive elements such as radium and radon, uranium mineral deposits emit a finite quantity of radiation that require precautions to protect workers at the mining site. Gamma radiation is the... 

The chemistry of xenon is much more extensive than that of any other noble gas. Only one binary compound of krypton. KrF2, has been prepared. It is a colorless solid that decomposes at room temperature. The chemistry of radon is difficult to study because all its isotopes are radioactive. Indeed, the radiation given off is so intense that it decomposes any reagent added to radon in an attempt to bring about a reaction. 

How many disintegrations per second occur in a basement that is 40 X 40 X 10 feet if the radiation level from radon is the allowed 4 X 10 12 Ci/L ... 

COP23 Ionising radiations (part 3) Exposure to radon. 

Total exposures vary considerably with human activities as well. Frequent flyers, for example, receive higher doses of radiation because the intensity of cosmic radiation is significantly greater at high altitude than it is at ground level. Residents in locations such as Montana and Idaho, where there are uranium deposits, receive higher doses of radiation from radon, one of the radioactive decay products of uranium. 

Lyons RG, Crossley PC, Ditchbum RG, McCabe WJ, Whitehead N (1989) Radon escape from New Zealand speleothems. Appl Radiat Isot 40 1153-1158... 

The presence of radiation in the workplace - which is an inevitable consequence of the radioactivity of uranium - requires that additional safety precautions be taken over and above those observed in other similar workplaces. There are generally three sources from which radiation exposure may occur (i) radiation emitted from uranium ore in-situ and/or during handling (ii) airborne radiation resulting from the decay of radon gas released from the ore and uranium dust and (iii) contamination by ore dust or concentrate. Radiation levels around uranium mining and milling facilities are quite low - for the most part only a few times the natural background levels - and they decrease rapidly as the distance from... 

BEIRIV. 1988. Health risks of radon and other internally deposited alpha emitters. Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiations, National Research Council. Washington, DC National Academy Press. 

In U.S. EPA Office of Radiation Program s New House Evaluation Program (NEWHEP), two builders in the Denver area, two in Colorado Springs, and one in Southfield, Michigan, installed various radon-resistant features in houses during construction. A sampling of subsequent measurements of indoor radon, adjacent soil gas radon, and soil radium content is summarized in Table 31.6.36... 

The State of New Jersey has been able to correlate airborne radiation measurements to clusters of buildings with elevated indoor radon 49 In this study, researchers compared airborne y-ray spectrometer data with indoor radon data to see if any trends emerged. For the conditions in New Jersey,... 

WHO, Radon, World Health Organization. Available at http //www.who.int/ionizing radiation/env/ radon/en 2009. 

It should be noted that there is intense controversy as to the health effects of radiation doses below about 100 mSv per year. This estimate of 15,000 annual cancer deaths from indoor radon, as well as estimates of tens of thousands of eventual cancer deaths from Chernobyl exposures, is obtained by applying the linearity hypothesis. This hypothesis has been adopted by most regulatory agencies but is strongly contested by some scientists who believe it overestimates the effects of radiation at low dose levels. Of course, if calculations based on this hypothesis overestimate the deaths from indoor radon, they also overestimate the effects of potential radiation from a waste repository. 

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