A model comparison of diffusion-controlled radon exhalation from solid and cavity walls with application to high background radiation areas

Tan, Yanliang; Yuan, Hongzhi; Kearfott, Kimberlee

doi:10.1007/s11356-020-10890-1

Short Research and Discussion Article
Published: 23 September 2020

A model comparison of diffusion-controlled radon exhalation from solid and cavity walls with application to high background radiation areas

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 27, pages 43389–43395 (2020)Cite this article

167 Accesses
Metrics details

Abstract

Radon exhaled from building material surfaces is an important source of indoor radon. Yangjiang, located in the southern part of mainland China, is well-known as a high background radiation area (HBRA). Rather, high levels of radon and thoron concentration have been observed in adobe and brick houses. Reducing the indoor radon concentration remains an important issue in the high background radiation areas of China and the world. Generally, the walls of Chinese dwellings are solid. In this paper, a simple one-dimensional model for predicting the radon diffusion in a cavity wall is proposed, and an analysis formula describing the radon exhalation rate from cavity wall surfaces is presented. The influence on the radon exhalation rate due to leakage through structural joints and building material cracks is analyzed. The simulation results indicate that the radon exhalation rate from a cavity wall surface is far lower than that from a solid wall. The structure of cavity walls themselves is therefore useful as a mechanism for reducing the indoor radon in high background radiation areas across the world.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

43,34 €

Price includes VAT (Finland)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Availability of data and materials

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

References

Aliyu A, Ramli A (2015) The world’s high background natural radiation areas (HBNRAs) revisited: a broad overview of the dosimetric, epidemiological and radiobiological issues. Radiat Meas 73:51–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radmeas.2015.01.007
CAS Article Google Scholar
Bekteshi S, Kabashi S, Ahmetaj S, Xhafa B, Hodolli G, Kadiri S, Alijaj F, Abdullahu B (2017) Radon concentrations and exposure levels in the Trepça underground mine: a comparative study. J Clean Prod 155:198–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.10.131
CAS Article Google Scholar
Fontanella L, Ippoliti L, Sarra A, Valentini P, Palermi S (2015) Hierarchical generalised latent spatial quantile regression models with applications to indoor radon concentration. Stoch Env Res Risk A 29:357–367. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-014-0917-0
Article Google Scholar
GB 6566-2010 (2010) Limits of radionuclides in building materials, general administration of quality supervision, inspection, and quarantine of the People’s Republic of China. China Standards Press, Beijing
Google Scholar
Guo Q, Chen B, Sun Q (2005) A pilot survey on indoor radon and thoron progeny in Yangjiang, China. Int Congr Ser 1276:313–314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ics.2004.10.005
Article Google Scholar
Hosoda M, Shimo M, Sugino M, Furukawa M, Fukushi M (2007) Effect of soil moisture content on radon and thoron exhalation. J Nucl Sci Technol 44:664–672. https://doi.org/10.1080/18811248.2007.9711855
CAS Article Google Scholar
Ivanova K, Stojanovska Z, Kunovska B, Chobanova N, Badulin V, Benderev A (2019) Analysis of the spatial variation of indoor radon concentrations (national survey in Bulgaria). Environ Sci Pollut Res 26:6971–6979. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-04163-9
CAS Article Google Scholar
Kumar A, Chauhan RP, Joshi M, Sahoo BK (2014) Modeling of indoor radon concentration from radon exhalation rates of building materials and validation through measurements. J Environ Radioact 127:50–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2013.10.004
CAS Article Google Scholar
Li Y, Schery SD, Turk B (1992) Soil as a source of indoor ²²⁰Rn. Health Phys 62:453–457. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004032-199205000-00013
CAS Article Google Scholar
Navrátilová Rovenská K, Jiránek M, Kačmaříková V (2015) The influence of long-term degradation of waterproof membranes on mechanical properties and on the radon diffusion coefficient - preliminary results. J Clean Prod 88:369–375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.06.012
CAS Article Google Scholar
Nazaroff W (1992) Radon transport from soil to air. Rev Geophys 30(2):137–160
Article Google Scholar
Nazaroff W, Moed B, Sextro R (1988) Soil as a source of indoor radon: generation, migration, and entry. Wiley, New York
Google Scholar
Nero A, Nazaroff W (1984) Characterizing the source of radon indoors. Radiat Prot Dosim 7:23–39
CAS Article Google Scholar
Park TH, Kang DR, Park SH, Yoon DK, Lee CM (2018) Indoor radon concentration in Korea residential environments. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25:12678–12685. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1531-3
CAS Article Google Scholar
Ravikumar P, Somashekar RK (2014) Determination of the radiation dose due to radon ingestion and inhalation. Int J Environ Sci Technol 11:493–508. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-013-0252-x
CAS Article Google Scholar
Sahoo BK, Sapra BK, Gaware JJ, Kanse SD, Mayya YS (2011) A model to predict radon exhalation from walls to indoor air based on the exhalation from building material samples. Sci Total Environ 409:2635–2641. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.03.031
CAS Article Google Scholar
Sakoda A, Ishimori Y, Yamaoka K (2011) A comprehensive review of radon emanation measurements for mineral, rock, soil, mill tailing and fly ash. Appl Radiat Isot 69:1422–1435. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apradiso.2011.06.009
CAS Article Google Scholar
Sohrabi M (2013) World high background natural radiation areas: need to protect public from radiation exposure. Radiat Meas 50:166–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radmeas.2012.03.011
CAS Article Google Scholar
Stranden E (1988) Building materials as a source of indoor radon. Wiley, New York
Google Scholar
Sun Q, Zou J, Akiba S, Li J, Liu Y, Tao Z, Zha Y, Sugahara T, Wei L (2002) Noncancer mortality (1987–1995) in high background radiation area of Yangjiang, China. Int Congr Ser 1225:277–282. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0531-5131(01)00529-5
Article Google Scholar
Tan Y, Liu F, Tokonami S, Xiao D, Shan J, Zhou Q, Tang Q, Hosoda M, Kudo-Yokota H, Pornnumpa C, Wanabongse P (2015) A proposal to evaluate radioactivity of cement containing coal fly ash from China national standard: “limits of radionuclides in building materials”. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 306:277–281. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-3943-6
CAS Article Google Scholar
Yuness M, Mohamed A, Nazmy H, Moustafa M, El-hady M (2016) Indoor activity size distribution of the short-lived radon progeny. Stoch Env Res Risk A 30:167–174. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-015-1057-x
Article Google Scholar
Zou J, Tao Z, Sun Q, Akiba S, Zha Y, Sugahara T, Wei L (2005) Cancer and non-cancer epidemiological study in the high background radiation area of Yangjiang, China. Int Congr Ser 1276:97–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ics.2004.11.167
Article Google Scholar

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by the Joint Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. U1865207); the Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 2019JJ40002); the Scientific Research Projects of Hunan Education Department of China (Grant No. 18A329); the Science and Technology Plan Project of Hunan Province (Grant No. 2016TP1020, 2019SK2311); and the Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Control and Detection Technology, University of Hunan Province.

Author information

Affiliations

College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang, Hunan, China
Yanliang Tan & Hongzhi Yuan
Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Kimberlee Kearfott

Authors

Yanliang Tan
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
Hongzhi Yuan
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
Kimberlee Kearfott
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Conceptualization, methodology, and writing the original draft: Yanliang Tan

Data curation: Hongzhi Yuan

Writing, review, and editing: Kimberlee Kearfott

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yanliang Tan.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Responsible Editor: Georg Steinhauser

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tan, Y., Yuan, H. & Kearfott, K. A model comparison of diffusion-controlled radon exhalation from solid and cavity walls with application to high background radiation areas. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 43389–43395 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10890-1

Download citation

Received: 04 May 2020
Accepted: 15 September 2020
Published: 23 September 2020
Issue Date: December 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10890-1

Keywords

Radon diffusion
Radon exhalation rate
Cavity wall
Solid wall
Indoor radon