Geology and climate: a novel method to estimate indoor radon exposure risk in South Africa

ABSTRACT

The severe health risk associated with elevated levels of indoor radon gas is well known and widely reported. Measuring residential indoor radon-in-air levels is expensive, labour- and time-intensive. Two of the most important estimators of high levels of indoor radon gas are the underlying geology of an area and the climatic conditions, especially temperature and wind. While varying geology leads to different exhalation rates of radon gas, the climate can mitigate or enhance indoor radon gas levels. The research in this study developed and tested a novel approach to rapidly identify the most probable areas of high indoor radon levels, potential targets for indoor radon measurements. The study utilizes GIS tools to superimpose overlays of geology, climate, and wind to identify possible radon hotspots. South Africa was selected as a study site due to its varying climatic conditions and unique geology which have large areas of underlaying uranium-bearing rock units. Several of the identified hotspots were compared to actual indoor radon measurements, and a good similarity between actual and estimated indoor radon levels was found. This method can easily be applied to other sites or regions, giving it both practical and theoretical values.

KEYWORDS:

• Radon gas
• geology
• climate
• exposure risk
• residential lifestyle

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).