• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2017.11a
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• pp.111-112
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• 2017

Radon has been considered the greatest source of exposure within the total radiation exposure of the human body. xposure from radon, which exists in indoor air quality, lacks public perception, Radon, which exists anywhere on earth, is not regarded as a state of attention even if it is above the average level. Indoor radon exposure situations are not intentionally introduced, and essentially the attention and responsibilities of radon exposures are assumed to be in indoor occupants. So, these are caused by common uranium and thorium scattering on Earth, and are brought into the building by fine cracks or exposed indicators of the buildings. Therefore, this study aims to reduce the risk of radon rays and reduce radon, which induces diseases caused by breathing in the body of indoor air pollutants and emitting diseases by emitting alpha rays from the radon gas.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.155-161
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• 2015

Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas and a major indoor contribution of exposure to ionizing radiation in dwellings. $^{222}Rn$ is a health hazard gas what is responsible for thousand lung cancer deaths every year. In this study, indoor radon concentrations present in thirty representative houses in Mahallat city, Iran, were determined in order to estimate lung cancer risk associated with residential radon exposure. Long-term passive method, using CR-39, was used to measure the radon concentration. The results showed an association between the age of the dwellings and the indoor radon concentration that was found, in that the concentration of radon tended to increase as the age of the dwelling also increased. The indoor radon concentrations were calculated to be within the range of $23{\pm}2$ to $350{\pm}26Bq{\cdot}m^{-3}$, with an average of $158Bq{\cdot}m^{-3}$. The annual effective dose from inhaled radon and its decay products was calculated between $0.8{\pm}0.1$ and $12.3{\pm}0.9mSv{\cdot}y^{-1}$, with an average of $5.5mSv{\cdot}y^{-1}$. By taking into consideration the EPA recommendation and ICRP statement, the average annual risk of lung cancer from inhaled radon was calculated as 0.09%, 0.06%, 0.01%, and 0.03% for current smokers (CS), those who had ever smoked (ES), never smokers (NS) and the general population, respectively.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.345-351
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• 2016

Objectives: The objective of this study was to conduct risk assessment using indoor radon concentration and exposure times. Methods: The target facilities were military facilities before and after the application of radon reduction processes and underground commercial facilities in major subway stations in Seoul. Indoor radon concentrations were measured by passive sampler. Results: Radon concentrations in 13 military facilities were initially higher than the guidelines, but the levels were below guidelines after the application of radon reduction processes. Underground shopping mall radon concentrations near subway stations in Seoul satisfied the guidelines. However, indoor radon effective doses after radon reduction processes in some military facilities and those in underground shopping malls belonged to International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) groups needing control management. Conclusion: Indoor radon management requires risk assessment data that takes into account working time (or residence time) in addition to management according to concentration guidelines.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.79-86
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• 2001

This study presents the quantitative exposure assessment of indoor radon released from groundwater. Most of the Indoor radon comes directly from soil beneath the basement or foundation. Recently, radon in groundwater releases to indoor air whenever the water is used and contributes to the total inhalation risk from indoor air. This study first develops a mathematical model to describe the transfer and distribution of radon released from groundwater in a house. Then, daily human exposures through inhalation or such radon are estimated with the model for an male adult based on two sets of exposure scenarios. The results obtained from the study would help increase the understanding of risk assessment issues associated with the indoor radon released from groundwater.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.51-54
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• 1996

This study was conducted to find out the indoor radon concentrations from Jan. 1, to Dec. 31, 1995 in Seoul, and the following results were achieved; 1. The average concentration of indoor radon ranged from $0.51pCi/\ell$ to $0.78pCi/\ell$. 2. The correlation coefficients(r) of radon concentration and indoor meteorological conditions were as follows; 1) temperature : r=0.11 2) atmospheric pressure : r= -0.01 3) humidity : r=0.227.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 1990

Indoor radon concentrations were measured using Track-Etch detectors in four (Seoul., Songtan, Dogo, Kunsan) different geological areas in Korea during December 1988 - April 1989. Measurements involving 75 hdmes were made in different rooms of each home. The mean concentrations of indoor radon in the homes by area varied from 2.70 - 3.22 pCi/l. Indoor radon concentrations in rural areas were higher than the corresponding levels in urban areas. The mean radon concentrations in the basements were about 1.3 times higher than those levels measured in the first floor. The mean radon concentrations in the kitchen and bedroom were and 2.86 pCi/l 2.43 pCi/l, respectively, while the living room radon concentrations were 2.61 pCi/l. Energy-efficient homes have a living room level that is on the average 1.4 times higher than normally insulated conventional homes. Approximately 13% of the study homes exceeded 4 pCi/l of radon levels of the U.S. EPA's recommended limit. From these results, radon levels in the homes seemed to correlate strongly with house location relative to geologic formation.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.668-674
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• 2019

Objectives: Modern people spend most of their day indoors. As the health impact of radon becomes an issue, public interest also has been growing. The primary route of potential human exposure to radon is inhalation. Long-term exposure to high levels of radon increases the risk of developing lung cancer. Radon exposure is known to be the second-leading cause of lung cancer, following tobacco smoke. This study measures the indoor radon concentrations in detached houses in area A of Chungcheongbuk-do Province considering the construction year, cracks in the houses, the location of installed detectors, and seasonal effects. Methods: The survey was conducted from September 2017 to April 2018 on 1,872 private households located in selected areas in northern Chungcheongbuk-do Province to figure out the year of building construction and the location of detector installed and identify the factors which affect radon concentrations in the air within the building. Radon was measured using a manual alpha track detector (Raduet, Hungary) with a sampling period of longer than 90 days. Results: Indoor radon concentrations in winter within area A was surveyed to be 168.3±193.3 Bq/㎥. There was more than a 2.3 times difference between buildings built before 1979 and those built after 2010. The concentration reached 195.4±221.9 Bq/㎥ for buildings with fractures and 167.2±192.4 Bq/㎥ for buildings without fractures. It was found that detectors installed in household areas with windows exhibited a lower concentration than those installed in concealed spaces. Conclusion: High concentrations of indoor radon were shown when there was a crack in the house. Also, ventilation seems to significantly affect radon concentrations because when the location of the detector in the installed site was near windows compared to an enclosed area, radon concentration variation increased. Therefore, it is considered that radon concentration is lower in summer because natural ventilation occurs more often than in winter.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.325-332
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• 2014

Growing concerns about harmful influence of radon on human body, many efforts are being made to decrease indoor radon concentration in advanced countries. To develop an indoor radon reduction technology, it is necessary to develop a technology to predict and evaluate indoor inflow and emission of radon. In line with that, the present study performed computational modelling of indoor dispersion of radon emitted from building materials. The computational model was validated by comparing computational results with analytical results. This study employed CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) analysis to evaluate the radon concentration and the airflow characteristics. Air change rate and ventilation condition were changed and several building materials having different radon emission characteristics were considered. From the results, the indoor radon concentration was high at flow recirculation zones and inversely proportional to the air change rate. For the different building materials, the indoor radon concentration was found to be highest in cement bricks, followed by eco-carats and plaster boards in the order. The findings from this study will be used as a method for selecting building materials and predicting and evaluating the amount of indoor radon in order to reduce indoor radon.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.122-133
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• 2021

The radon gas from nature mainly considers a cause of radon problems, and it is closely affect human life cycle. Korean yellow residual soil, Hwangtoh, widely used as a building material, is considered to be one of major sources of indoor radon. However, there have, as yet, been no studies about radon from Hwangtoh in mass market brands. Here, we investigated the indoor radon concentrations and exhalation rates in four Hwangtohs from different brand names and regional features. The Closed Chamber Method (CCM) conducted by a Continuous Radon Monitor (CRM) has been used for the rates of radon exhalation. Based on equations of previous references, the indoor radon concentrations were deducted. As a result, the radon surface exhalation rates resulted in the 1.4208 to 3.0293 Bq·㎡·h-1 range. Significant differences were found among Hwangtohs according to production regions. Materials with higher radon concentration required a longer time to reach a quasi-steady state in a given environment, in other words, the number of half-life cycles increased from a set starting point. The experimentally identified Hwangtohs demonstrated its safety for construction purposes. There exists, so far, a possibility to exert influence radon emanation due to unidentified factors. Therefore, it is necessary to corroborate with more research by increasing the number of Hwangtohs, considering the other references reported high radon exhalation rates. In addition, it is highly recommended that the radon exhalation rates should be measured for all building materials for preventing human health before the material usage.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.327-334
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• 2002

The work presents sensitivity and uncertainty analysis of 2-compartment model for the evaluation of indoor radon pollution in a house. Effort on the development of such model is directed towards the prediction of the generation and transfer of radon in indoor air released from groundwater. The model is used to estimate a quantitative daily human exposure through inhalation of such radon based on exposure scenarios. However, prediction from the model has uncertainty propagated from uncertainties in model parameters. In order to assess how model predictions are affected by the uncertainties of model inputs, the study performs a quantitative uncertainty analysis in conjunction with the developed model. An importance analysis is performed to rank input parameters with respect to their contribution to model prediction based on the uncertainty analysis. The results obtained from this study would be used to the evaluation of human risk by inhalation associated with the indoor pollution by radon released from groundwater.