Indoor radon exposure and its correlation with the radiometric map of uranium in Sweden
Bart Olsthoorn, Tryggve Rönnqvist, Cheuk Wah Lau, Sanguthevar Rajasekaran, Tomas Persson, Martin Må̊nsson, Alexander V. Balatsky
Abstract
Indoor radon concentrations are controlled by both human factors and geological factors. It is important to separate the anthropogenic and geogenic contributions. We show that there is a positive correlation between the radiometric map of uranium in the ground and the measured radon in the household in Sweden. A map of gamma radiation is used to obtain an equivalent uranium concentration (ppm eU) for each postcode area. The aggregated uranium content is compared to the yearly average indoor radon concentration for different types of houses. Interestingly, modern households show reduced radon concentrations even in postcode areas with high average uranium concentrations. This shows that modern construction is effective at reducing the correlation with background uranium concentrations and minimizing the health risk associated with radon exposure. These correlations and predictive housing parameters could assist in monitoring higher risk areas.