0

Basket

Monthly Archives

October 2019

Oct 29
Love0

Radon detector or digital radon sensor – which one to choose?

By Home No Comments

The market offers a variety of different radon detectors and digital radon sensors. As an individual, it can be difficult to know which one is the most appropriate for measuring radon in a house. To make things easier, we have put together a guide to better facilitate the choice of either a radon detector or digital radon sensor.

In short, it really depends on what you’re trying to achieve and measure. However, it is important to first understand how dangerous radon can be.

How can radon pose a health risk?

Radon is a radioactive gas that leaks from the ground and in some cases comes from building materials. Depending on the ground beneath the house and the type of building construction, harmful high concentrations of radon can exist.

Radon is the most common cause of lung cancer in humans after smoking. As with smoking, it is the long-term effect that can lead to cancer, the risk increases if you are exposed to high levels of radon for several years. However, staying in an indoor environment with an elevated radon content for a short time is not dangerous. To truly understand the risks in your own home, it is important to take a radon measurement over a prolonged period. This avoids getting a misleading value; radon content can vary enormously over 24 hours and can also be affected by weather conditions.

Due to the health risks and the importance of reliable radon measurements, radiation safety authorities around the world recommend that an annual average level of radon is measured. By defining an annual average value, you get the most accurate assessment of radon levels and possible health risks. The recommended maximum levels ​​found in different countries are also expressed in annual averages.

When should I use radon detectors?

If you have never conducted a radon measurement in your home and want to know what risk you may be exposed to, radon detectors are a better option than digital radon sensors. Detectors come with easy to follow instructions and should be placed in several rooms around the home. After 2-3 months, you then send the radon detectors to a laboratory for analysis.

Some of the advantages of using radon detectors:

– You get the radon content of your house expressed in an annual average that best reflects potential health risks.

– To meet national requirements place several radon detectors around the house. It is an inexpensive, robust, easy and proven method for assessing radon exposure risk.

– By using an accredited laboratory, you will receive an accurate and reliable radon content level analysis.

– Some countries offer grants to asses radon related issues. In these cases the radon content measurement is only approved if it is expressed in an annual average.

However, in order to obtain an annual average value, you do not need to conduct a radon analysis across the whole year. It usually takes 2-3 months depending on which country you measure in and what rules need to be abided by. If you choose an accredited measuring laboratory you will receive accurate and easy to follow instructions to enable you to correctly choose the right number of radon detectors for your property.

When measuring with a radon detector, it is important to understand that you cannot directly (on site) see what radon levels you have in the house. It is only the measuring laboratory that can analyze the detector – subsequently you then receive a measurement expressed in an annual average which highlights the radon level in your house.

When should I use a digital radon sensor?

Digital radon sensors are primarily used to measure the effect of a radon measure i.e. when you are proactively looking to lower radon levels. Why? Radon sensors allow the user to see how radon levels vary from hour to hour. This can be really useful if, for example, a radon suction has been installed to lower the radon content in a house.

In principle, you can also measure the annual mean with a digital radon sensor, but industry wide this is not recommended. Certainly, there are radon sensors that express the average radon content over a longer period of time. However, there are no digital radon detectors for individuals that are accredited or approved for radon measurement. Using digital radon sensors to measure the annual average is also significantly more expensive than using radon detectors because measuring radon content in one room is usually insufficient.

In most circumstances, in order to obtain a correct value, radon levels are measured in several rooms. This means that you need a number of radon sensors, which in turn can entail large costs – especially if you compare the cost of measuring an annual average with radon detectors.

In conclusion, radon detectors are the most appropriate tool for measuring the risk of radon exposure in houses.

Radon detector or digital radon sensor – which one to choose?
Order radon measurement
Oct 15
Love0

Canon Business Center Conducts Reliable and Effective Radon Measurement in the Workplace

By Measurement, Workplace No Comments

In order to comply with the EU’s new Radiation Protection Directive, a new Radiation Protection Act came into force in 2018. This means that for the first time, the issue of exposure and measurement of radon in both workplaces and homes is included in different European countries Radiation Protection Acts.

We met Canon’s sales manager Mats Sonesson at their Uppsala office in Sweden. Here, Mats tells us what they did to comply with the new law to ensure employees were working in a radon-safe environment.

How did you approach the issue of carrying out radon measurement in your office?
We wanted to know that the office we rent is okay and that our employees are not exposed to radon levels which are above national guidelines. As an employer, we are legally responsible to ensure our employees are not exposed to any health risks in the workplace. Understanding and controlling radon levels is a key element of that.

What was your experience of conducting an accredited radon measurement?
It was surprisingly easy. The first few days our employees wondered what the radon detectors were for, but after that they just blended into the office to the extent that we almost forgot to send them back for analysis! Registering information on Radonova’s website was straightforward and we received clear instructions on where the detectors should be placed. We fixed the detectors with zip-ties to make sure they weren’t damaged when our office was cleaned.

Have you been able to use the radon measurement you conducted in terms of your wider environmental responsibilities?
Yes, we are sending the report from the radon survey to our central office as it is something that illustrates how we are reducing our environmental impact and meeting environmental legal requirements in line with ISO 14001.

Why did you choose Radonova as your supplier?
As we are accredited according to ISO 14001, it was sensible to order the radon measurement from Radonova as the company is accredited according to ISO 17025, 14001 and 9001. Radonova’s website assures quality at a cost-effective price and in general the site is easy to navigate and order from.

Finally, do you have any advice to employers who have not yet measured radon in their workplace?
Considering how easy it is, and the fact that the law now requires measurement, the question is really why shouldn’t you do it? The measurement process is so straightforward. If the measurement would have indicated that a workplace has radon levels which are above legal levels, a significant health risk would have been identified. In that respect, it is comforting to be aware that any radon issue is being addressed and managed. In our case, the measured radon content was below the reference level.

Order your measurement here
Oct 01
Love0

Expert Interview with Dr. Aaron Goodarzi – The Global Fight Against Radon

By News No Comments

In this expert interview, we talk to Dr Aaron Goodarzi, the Canada Research Chair for Radiation Exposure Disease, about the dangers of radon exposure. During our conversation, Dr. Goodarzi discusses the steps that need to be taken to lessen the risk of radon exposure, the greater need for collaboration between countries and technical communities to ensure that radon exposure is tackled on a global basis and why projects like Evict Radon are essential if we are to eradicate radon as a health issue.

In brief, could you please describe what you consider to be the main challenges for fighting radon and its consequent impact on human health?

In many parts of the world, radon exposure in buildings is a worsening problem due to the evolving nature of our built environment. Lung cancer is the highest lethality cancer type known, and rates continue to rise in non-smokers for reasons that are still not clear. So, three of the most important challenges right now are (i) finding out exactly HOW our human-made environment influences our radon exposure, (ii) then WHAT we can do to reduce radon exposure and (iii) develop a clear, molecular-level understanding of WHY the radiation from radon gives rise to cancer.

(If you agree) could you please explain and elaborate on why radon exposure issue is a global issue? And how can global cooperation can help alleviate the problem?

Radon is essentially everywhere where humans have built cities on Earth, the main question is how much is entering and being concentrated within a given type of building. Different countries have different radon problems, but most can learn from one another about what works (and does not work) in terms of radon exposure awareness, testing, prevention and mitigation. Successes need to be shared to more quickly reduce radon in countries just recently coming to grips with their radon problem, whilst failures are equally important to learn from, so they are not repeated.

In many parts of the world, the knowledge about radon is low. Why do you think there’s a shortage of knowledge and awareness about radon?

Simply put, it takes time and a great deal of resources to raise radon awareness from ‘nothing’. Some countries started this process back in the 1980’s, when the connection between radon in homes and lung cancer was first realized. Naturally, those areas now enjoy a much greater level of awareness versus those that did not start the process of educating their populations until much later. As different parts of the world realize the scale of their radon problem, they slowly put resources in terms of funds and human activity into tackling the problem. Given that radon itself is literally invisible, such awareness campaigns require finesse and careful tailoring to cater the message to specific audiences and cultures. What works for one culture or demographic does not necessarily work for another, and so there is no ‘magic bullet’ for radon awareness, but rather the need for a great deal of hard work from a lot of smart and caring people.

Could you tell us a bit about the Canadian “Evict Radon” campaign? Why is it important and what are the results so far?

Evict Radon emerged from the work of enthusiastic biologists in the Canadian province of Alberta back in 2013, slowly evolving from a local radon testing campaign into a national non-profit program that uses the latest in research from across disciplines (biology, architecture, geoscience, psychology, population health and more) to defeat the radon problem. Evict Radon has revolutionized radon awareness in Canada, using a citizen science approach to encourage Canadians to test their homes for radon, while at the same time contributing their data to cancer prevention research efforts in the public domain. It has been an enormous success, with multiple peer-reviewed studies being released and underway – as well as getting 16,000 Canadians radon tested in approximately 4-5 years. Some of our key findings so far include the scale of radon exposure in the Canadian Prairies – the second highest on Earth – and the observation that newer North American homes contain substantially higher and still worsening radon levels compared to older homes. We are also in the process of discovering the ‘formula’ for a high versus low radon property, which will be very important to ensure that new homes no longer contain high radon.

Radonova has been measuring and analysing radon for a long time and they are involved in the Evict Radon campaign. What is your impression of its radon detectors and expertise?

We carefully surveyed different testing options at the outset of our study, and ultimately decided to go with Radonova for three reasons. First, their devices are the only ISO certified devices available – meaning the validity of the radon data obtained from such devices is recognized internationally as they are rigorously tested on a regular basis by independent third parties. Second, they offered the highest possible data security and online infrastructure we could find. Finally, their quality control process met our exacting standards in terms of accuracy, precision and scientific rigor.

How much can we achieve when it comes to fighting radon?

I firmly believe that we will get to a state where radon, as a source of lung cancer, is a rarity or even a memory. This will take time, but it has been done for other toxic compounds and pollutants. Given that radon can be so easily tested for and, if high, removed from a property, there is no reason why it should continue to take the lives of thousands upon thousands of people each year.

About Dr. Goodarzi

Dr. Goodarzi is the Canada Research Chair for Radiation Exposure Disease. He obtained his PhD from University of Calgary in 2005 and trained as a post-doctoral scholar at the Genome Damage and Stability Centre at the University of Sussex (UK) until 2010. In 2011, he opened his own laboratory at the University of Calgary’s School of Medicine. In 2015, he was named one of Calgary’s Top 40 Under 40; in 2016, he was made a University of Calgary “Peak Scholar” for innovation in radon gas and lung cancer knowledge engagement; in 2018, he was selected as a TEDx speaker and, in 2019, received one of the School of Medicine’s Education Awards for innovation in graduate training.

Dr. Goodarzi is the founder and leader of Evict Radon, a new Canadian non-profit organization whose goal is to solve Canada’s substantial and worsening radon-gas exposure problem through interdisciplinary research for the benefit of all Canadians.

Additional Links

Dr. Goodarzi profile, University of Calgary: https://www.ucalgary.ca/bmb/profiles/dr-aaron-goodarzi

“Radon in our Homes: The Science Behind the Danger”, Dr. Aaron Goodarzi, TEDx Talk: https://radonova.com/ted-talk/

Radonova: https://radonova.com/

For more information

Bill Rounds, President of Radonova Phone: +1.331.814.2201,

‘E-mail: bill.rounds@radonova.com

Dr Aaron Goodarzi