Radon in Schools

EPA issued its report to Congress on radon in schools in October 1993. The report provided the results of the mandated National School Radon 

Office of Radiation and Indoor Air. National School Radon Survey. Report to Congress (Oct. 1993) [hereinafter School Survey]. 

EPA concluded from the survey that the country had a radon exposure problem in its schools. While there was some correlation between schools with high radon levels and areas of the country with high radon levels, fully 10 percent of schools with elevated radon levels were located in areas with low potential for radon. Based on these findings, EPA confirmed its recommendation that all schools should test for radon.  

---

EPA first studied radon in schools in Fairfax, Virginia in 1988. The resnits of that stndy were nsed to develop EPA, Radon Measnrements in Schools—An Interim Report, Report No. 520/1/89-010. 

Grant assistance to States for radon programs. Radon in schools. 

Title III - Indoor Radon Abatement-. This change was made on October 28,1988 (Pub. L. 100-551). The purpose of this legislation was to assist states in responding to the threat to human health posed by exposure to radon. EPA is required to publish and keep current a citizen s guide to radon health risk, and to perform studies of the radon levels in schools and radon contamination in federal buildings. 

The Administrator is authorized to select, from high-risk areas identified in paragraph (2), school buildings for purposes of enabling the Administrator to undertake diagnostic and remedial efforts to reduce the levels of radon in such school buildings. 

In the first stage, suitable radon exposure chambers have modified, by the accepted life system for the Rabbits. Exposure chamber installed inside Biophysics laboratory in School of Physics / Universiti Sains Malaysia, it consists four sources of Radium ( Ra), electric fan to simulate indoor air radon, six radon dosimeters equipped with the CR-39NTDS, one radiation dosimeter to measure radiation dose inside the chamber, RAD7 to measure radon concentration to short measurements, as shown in Fig.l. 

The target population for a survey is that set of elements about which the data will be used to make inferences. The target population for the national radon survey will be all occupied residential housing units in the United States which are used as primary residences. This will include both single and multi-family housing units. The survey will not include schools, workplaces, group quarters (dormitories, institutions, rooming houses, etc.), seasonal units, or unoccupied units. 

Radon is a radioactive gas that seeps into our homes, schools, and offices. It is produced by the natural decay of radium in the ground. Radon gas is thought to be a cause of some cancers, particularly lung cancer, as it seeps into the ground levels of buildings. Kits are available for testing the levels of radon that may exist in your home—particularly the basement or ground-level areas. 

Debating the Issue Knowing the radon levels in your area, should it be mandated that property inspections include radon testing prior to a sale If radon levels above 4 pCi/L are discovered at your home or school, how should the problem be addressed ... 

Archer V, Radford E, Axelson O. 1979. Radon daughter cancer in man factors in exposure-response relationships at low levels. In Conference workshop on lung cancer epidemiology and industrial applications of sputum cytology. Golden, CO Colorado School of Mines... 

A peer review panel was assembled for radon. The panel consisted of the following members Dr. Victor E. Archer, University of Utah Medical Center Dr. Douglas J. Crawford-Brown, University of North Carolina Dr. Richard Gerstle, private consultant and Dr. John Spengler, Harvard School of Public Health. These experts collectively have knowledge of radon s physical and chemical properties, toxicokinetics, key health end points, mechanisms of action, human and animal exposure, and quantification of risk to humans. All reviewers were selected in conformity with the conditions for peer review specified in the Section 104(i)(13) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, as amended. 

No one had put radon, or a substance containing radon, into homes, schools, and other buildings. Unlike the preceding titles of TSCA, which mandated the EPA to regulate the culpable industries, this new amendment to TSCA mandated EPA to develop and provide information and expertise to the public and the states. The alternative of the federal government regulating the behavior of individual homeowners in this respect was not one that Congress had the will or the resomces to implement. 

The Administrator shall conduct a study for the purpose of determining the extent of radon contamination in the Nations school buildings. 

In carrying out such study, the Administrator shall identify and compile a hst of areas within the United States which the Administrator determines have a high probability of including schools which have elevated levels of radon. 

---