• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
• /
• 2018.11a
• /
• pp.120-121
• /
• 2018

Radon is one of the substances that pollute the indoor air and is classified as a first-level carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer(IARC) together with asbestos, and it is reported that it can cause lung cancer. The World Health Organization(WHO) reports that lung cancer is the second leading cause of lung cancer, and 6-15% of lung cancer patients report lung cancer caused by radon. Radon occurs in cracks in concrete and aged buildings, and is detected in soil, rocks, groundwater, and so on. It is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas which is adsorbed to dust in the air and enters through human respiratory system. This study used vermiculite (expanded vermiculite), which has excellent ion exchange ability and a large number of pores, and industrial by - product red mud which has heavy metal adsorption ability, in order to adsorb radon. A matrix capable of adsorbing radon was prepared, and the characteristics of each material were compared and analyzed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
• /
• 2019.05a
• /
• pp.27-28
• /
• 2019

Recently, a bed company detected a radon more than Red Politics and became a hot topic of conversation. This has led to increased interest in radon, and a number of free-of-charge bodies have also been established to recognize the dangers of radon. In addition, the Korean Institute of Geological and Resource Research is planning to assist the installation of radon alarm systems in 10,000 households nationwide, free of charge. Since radon is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas that causes lung cancer, it aims to reduce lung cancer incidence by absorbing radon using bamboo activated carbon as a way to reduce it. Due to the use of bamboo activated carbon, radon concentration per hour tends to decrease as substitution rate increases, and table flow tends to decrease as substitution rate increases. Through this experiment, 30% of the replacement rate of bamboo activated carbon is judged to be the most suitable replacement rate.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.538-550
• /
• 2008

Radon is an invisible, odorless, and radioactive gas. It is formed by the disintegration of radium, which is a decay product of uranium. Some amounts of radon gas and its products are present ubiquitously in the soil, water, and air. Particularly high radon levels occur in regions of high uranium content. Although radon is permeable into indoor environment not only through geological features (bed rock and permeability) but also through the construction materials and underground water, the radiation from the geological features is generally main exposure factor. So there can be a problem in a certain space such as the underground and/or relatively poor ventilation condition. In this study, a GIS technique was used in order to investigate spatial distribution of radon measured from sub- way stations of 1 thru 8 in Seoul, Korea in 1991, 1998, 2001, and 2006. Spatial analysis was applied to reproduce the radon distribution. We utilized spatial analysis techniques such as inverse distance weighted averaging (IDW) and kriging techniques which are widely used to relate between different spatial points. To validate the results from the analyses, the jackknife technique for an uncertainty test was performed. When the number of measuring sites was less than 100 and also when the number of omitted sites increased, the kriging technique was better than IDW. On the other hand, when the number of sites was over 100, IDW technique was better than kriging technique. Thus the selection of analytical tool was affected sensitives by the analysis based on the number of measuring sites.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
• /
• 2017.05a
• /
• pp.80-81
• /
• 2017

The study conducted a thermal conductivity test of magnesium oxide to manufacture boards using absorbent to produce board of radon gas molecules that are absorbed into the indoor air pollutants, which are currently in question, among other indoor air pollutants. Using material are the vermiculite and anthracite, in case of the vermiculite, which results in large porosity due to the expansion, in case of the anthracite, which characteristic generates pore on the matrix. As a result of the experiment, the lowest value was given to 0.6161 kcal/mh℃ which adding vermiculite 10% and anthracite 40%. However, adding vermiculite 40% and anthracite 10%, slightly higher 0.7229 kcal/mh℃, it is deemed the anthracite has more porosity than the vermiculite and, it judged that pore occurrence during the mixing process, appeared that the heat conductivity go down.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.38-45
• /
• 2017

Objectives: Radon may be second only to smoking as a cause of lung cancer. Radon is a colorless, tasteless radioactive gas that is formed via the radioactive decay of radium. Therefore, radon levels can build up based on the amount of radium contained in construction materials such as phospho-gypsum board or when ventilation rates are low. This study provides our findings from evaluation of radon gas at facilities and offices in an industrial complex. Methods: We evaluated the office rooms and processes of 12 manufacturing factories from May 14, 2014 to September 23, 2014. Short-term data were measured by using real-time monitoring detectors(Model 1030, Sun Nuclear Co., USA) indoors in the office buildings. The radon measurements were recorded at 30-minute intervals over approximately 48 hours. The limit of detection of this instrument is $3.7Bq/m^3$. Also, long-term data were measured by using ${\alpha}-track$ radon detectors(${\alpha}-track$, Rn-tech Co., Korea) in the office and factory buildings. Our detectors were exposed for over 90 days, resulting in a minimum detectable concentration of $7.4Bq/m^3$. Detectors were placed 150-220 cm above the floor. Results: Radon concentrations averaged $20.6{\pm}17.0Bq/m^3$($3.7-115.8Bq/m^3$) in the overall area. The monthly mean concentration of radon by building materials were in the order of gypsum>concrete>cement. Radon concentrations were measured using ${\alpha}-track$ in parallel with direct-reading radon detectors and the two metric methods for radon monitoring were compared. A t-test for the two sampling methods showed that there is no difference between the average radon concentrations(p<0.05). Most of the office buildings did not have central air-conditioning, but several rooms had window- or ceiling-mounted units. Employees could also open windows. The first, second and third floors were used mainly for office work. Conclusions: Radon levels measured during this assessment in the office rooms of buildings and processes in factories were well below the ICRP reference level of $1,000Bq/m^3$ for workplaces and also below the lower USEPA residential guideline of $148Bq/m^3$. The range of indoor annual effective dose due to radon exposure for workers working in the office and factory buildings was 0.01 to 1.45 mSv/yr. Construction materials such as phospho-gypsum board, concrete and cement were the main emission sources for workers' exposure.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.30 no.5 s.81
• /
• pp.469-480
• /
• 2004

The radon concentrations were measured to survey distribution of radon concentrations in Seoul subway stations. The radon concentrations in air and water were measured at seventeen subway stations(Mapo, Chungjongno, Sodaemun, Kwanghwamun, Chongno3ga, Ulchiro4ga, Tangdaemun, Sangildong on Line 5;Nowon, Chunggye, Hagye, Kongnung, Taenung, Mokkol, Chunghwa, Sangbong, Myomok on Line 7) using the $RAdtrak^{TM}$ radon gas detector, Pylon AB-5 continuous passive radon detector and liquid scintillation counting method from January to May 1999. The major results obtained from this study were as follows: The long-term mean concentrations of radon were $61.8\;Bq/m^3$ in office, $78.9\;Bq/m^3$ in platform, $38.2\;Bq/m^3$ in concourse and $20.1\;Bq/m^3$ in outdoor, respectively. These levels were less than the action level ($148\;Bq/m^3$) of the U.S. EPA. The highest level of short-term mean concentrations was $116.55\;Bq/m^3$ at Chongno3ga station on the 5th line subway stations, while the lowest mean concentration was $19.55\;Bq/m^3$ at Mokkol station on the 7th line subway stations. The highest concentration of radon in the road water and storing underground water in the subway stations was $234.7\;KBq/m^3\;and\;155.5\;KBq/m^3$ in Sodaemun subway station, respectively. The results suggest that radon concentration in subway stations seems to be affected by ventilation and radon concentratin in underground water in the subway stations.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.71-84
• /
• 2017

Radon, which enters the interior environment from soil, rocks, and groundwater, is a radioactive gas that poses a serious risk to humans. Indoor radon concentrations are measured to investigate the risk of radon gas exposure and reliable radon concentration mapping is then performed for further analysis. In this study, we compared the predictive performance of various univariate kriging algorithms, including ordinary kriging and three nonlinear transform-based kriging algorithms (log-normal, multi-Gaussian, and indicator kriging), for mapping radon concentrations with an asymmetric distribution. To compare and analyze the predictive performance, we carried out jackknife-based validation and analyzed the errors according to the differences in the data intervals and sampling densities. From a case study in South Korea, the overall nonlinear transform-based kriging algorithms showed better predictive performance than ordinary kriging. Among the nonlinear transform-based kriging algorithms, log-normal kriging had the best performance, followed by multi-Gaussian kriging. Ordinary kriging was the best for predicting high values within the spatial pattern. The results from this study are expected to be useful in the selection of kriging algorithms for the spatial prediction of data with an asymmetric distribution.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.41-54
• /
• 1991

This paper aimed to analyse dose sensitivity to the controllable parameters of indoor radon $(^{222}Rn)$ and its decay products (Rn-D) by applying the input~output linear system theory. Physical behaviors of $^{222}Rn\;&\;Rn-D$ were analyzed in terms of $(^{222}Rn)$ gas -generation, -migation and -infiltration to indoor environments, and the performance output-function, i. e. mean dose equivalent to Tracho-Bronchial (TB) lung region, was assessed to the following extented ranges of the controllable paramenters; a) the ventilation rate $constant({\lambda}_v)\;:\;0{\sim}50[h^{-l}].\;b)$ the attachment rate $constant({\lambda}_a)\;:\;0{\sim}500[h^{-l}].\;c)$ the unattached-deposition rate constant (${\lambda}^u_d)\;:\;0-50[h-l]$. A linear input-output model was reconstructed from the original models in literatures, as follows, which was modified into the matrices consisting of 111 nodal equations; a) indoor $^{222}Rn\;&\;Rn-D$ Behaviour; Jacobi-Porstendoerfer-Bruno model.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
• /
• 2018.05a
• /
• pp.230-231
• /
• 2018

Recently, the danger for radioactive materials has become a hot topic. Beginning with the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1996, in 2011, the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan suffered major damage such as large-scale casualties and radioactive dangerous area selection. Concerns about leakage of radioactive materials due to recent earthquakes have been deepening in Korea, such as Wolsong Nuclear Power Plant in Gyeongju, and there is a growing interest in the safety of radioactive materials through the media and the media. However, the route to exposure to radioactive materials is not limited to these large-scale nuclear accidents. Typical examples of this are radioactive substances exposed in daily life. In the case of radon gas, the danger is being revealed through current events programs and news, and natural radiation exposure is attracting attention.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.313-318
• /
• 2020

Since radon is an inert gas and is a monoatomic molecule, the size of one particle represents the size of an atom, which means that it has a radius of approximately 1 to 100 nm. Therefore, if the mask has a radius smaller than the size of general fine dust and ultra fine dust, but it is possible to block the inhalation of radon more than a certain amount, it is considered that the exposure through the inhalation of radon can be reduced through normal indoor wear. Accordingly, we would like to find out the radon blocking effect of a mask worn in everyday life. Looking at the reduction rate of radon for each mask, cotton masks decreased by 33.45%, medical masks by 33.50%, KF 80 masks by 35.12%, and KF 94 masks by 37.72%. It was found that the radon blocking effect of the cotton and medical masks was somewhat inferior to that of the KF mask, but the difference was not so great that the introduction of radon into the air could be blocked to a certain level by wearing a mask.