• 한국대기환경학회지
• /
• 제9권4호
• /
• pp.271-277
• /
• 1993

Indoor radon has been known as one of the notorious carcinogens. However, a safe environmental criterion of radon has not yet been established in Korea, The main objectives of this study were to study concentration distributions of radon, to trace radon sources in subways, and to obtain a strategy for radon reduction in Seoul metropolitan area. Radon concentrations had been extensively determined by several steps. The first step was to survey radon levels in all of 83 subway stations from October to November in 1991. The second step was to select 40 out of 83 stations and then to study seasonal variations in 1991 and 1992. The third step was to monitor radon levels by hourly-basis plans. The fourth step was to seek a radon reduction strategy by altering ventilation at Ankuk station where had the highest radon concentration during the first measurement step. Each underground floor in the station was divided into 10 sites to measure hourly radon variations. The final step of the study was to measure radon concentrations in groundwater that is one of the possible main sources radon place. The result of the various measuring approaches showed short-and long-term radon variation and indicated radon reduction schemes.

• 한국환경보건학회지
• /
• 제40권6호
• /
• pp.484-491
• /
• 2014

Objectives: A radon emission reducing agent was prepared using charcoal and zeolite, and the amount was measured after coating construction materials with the agent. The availability of the radon emission reducing agent was evaluated. Methods: Construction materials (red brick, cement brick, and gypsum board) coated with reducing agent were placed in a chamber to measure radon emissions. The construction materials were coated one through three times. The spread volume for brick and gypsum board was 50 mL and 75 mL per application, respectively. The amount of radon emitted was measured by RAD-7 after 48 hours. Results: The reduction ratio increased with the number of coatings, and the reduction ratios for red brick, cement brick, and gypsum board were 63.3, 73.6, and 58%, respectively, in the case of three coatings of RA-1. The reduction ratios for red brick, cement brick, and gypsum board were 42.8, 58.1, and 26.2%, respectively in the case of three coatings with RA-2. RA-1 was slightly better than RA-2 in radon emission reduction. Conclusions: Radon emissions from construction materials decreased according to the concentration of reducing agent coating, and it was more effective than existing methods.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제55권6호
• /
• pp.2222-2229
• /
• 2023

Radon and radon progeny being natural radioactive pollutants, seriously affect the health of uranium miners. Radon reduction by ventilation is an essential means to improve the working environment. Firstly, the relational model is built between the radon exhalation rate of the loose body and the ventilation parameters in the stope with radon percolation-diffusion migration dynamics. Secondly, the model parameters of radon exhalation dynamics are uncertain and described by triangular membership functions. The objective functions of the left and right equations of the radon exhalation model are constructed according to different possibility levels, and their extreme value intervals are obtained by the immune particle swarm optimization algorithm (IPSO). The fuzzy target and fuzzy constraint models of radon exhalation are constructed, respectively. Lastly, the fuzzy aggregation function is reconstructed according to the importance of the fuzzy target and fuzzy constraint models. The optimal control decision with different possibility levels and importance can be obtained using the swarm intelligence algorithm. The case study indicates that the fuzzy aggregation function of radon exhalation has an upward trend with the increase of the cut set, and fuzzy optimization provides the optimal decision-making database of radon treatment and prevention under different decision-making criteria.

• 환경영향평가
• /
• 제31권5호
• /
• pp.286-295
• /
• 2022

본 연구에서는 대전광역시 실내 라돈의 농도 분포를 조사하고 라돈 저감 공법을 적용하여 저감 효율을 평가하였다. 전국주택라돈조사 결과를 기초로 선별된 24개 주택을 대상으로 실내 라돈 측정을 실시한 결과, A자치구의 평균치가 261 Bq/m³로서 기준치를 크게 상회하는 수준임을 알 수 있었고, 동일한 주택에서도 실내 라돈 농도는 측정 지점과 시간에 따라 영향을 받고 있음을 확인하였다. 라돈 저감을 위해 토양 배기법을 적용한 8개 주택의 경우, 실내 라돈 수치는 기준치에 비해 크게 낮아졌으며 평균 저감 효율 역시 55% 정도로 나타나 양호한 라돈 저감 효과를 알 수 있었다. 또한 차폐법을 실시한 2개의 주택에서는 평균 저감 효율이 90% 정도로서 실내 라돈 저감 효과가 매우 우수하였다. 라돈 저감 시 동일한 저감공법을 적용하여도 건물의 구조, 환기의 빈도, 계절 등 여러 요인에 따라 저감 효율이 달라질 수 있으므로 향후 다양한 인자를 반영하여 저감공법의 효과를 정밀하게 평가할 필요가 있다. 이를 기초로 하여 라돈 노출에 의한 인체 위해 저감을 위한 대전광역시 실내 라돈 관리 대책 마련이 필요하다.

• 한국환경보건학회지
• /
• 제42권5호
• /
• pp.345-351
• /
• 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.

• 한국가구학회지
• /
• 제22권1호
• /
• pp.13-17
• /
• 2011

Recently, interest in indoor air quality is increasing. Especially, radon radioactivity among the indoor air is a well-known risk factor for lung cancer because of ionizing radiation in the form of ${\alpha}$-particles. This study was carried out to investigate effect of black charcoal and activated carbon for reduction of radon radiation that emitted from building materials. Black charcoal and activated carbon were used as a barrier which was against the infiltration of radon. The source of radon was gypsum board. Two types of charcoal barrier were powder- and board-type with 5 mm, 10 mm thickness respectively. The method for this determination is evaluated radon concentration in chamber. The measurements were performed with radon detector, SARAD3120. Results of this study are as following: Black charcoal and activated carbon confirmed the highly efficient barrier. Radon concentration was reduced from 72% to 85% as compared the control chamber. Radon reduction capability, however, was no difference as barrier's types. Results obtained in ventilation condition, radon concentration shows 5.93 pCi/L on average in the closed condition and shows 2.69 pCi/L in the opened condition.

• 한국지하수토양환경학회지:지하수토양환경
• /
• 제16권1호
• /
• pp.12-18
• /
• 2011

To investigate the natural reduction characteristics of radon with a short half-life (3.82 day) in drinking Qgroundwater, we analyzed the changes of radon concentrations of groundwater, waters in storage tanks, and tap waters from the small-scale groundwater-supply systems (N = 301) by LSC (Liquid Scintillation Counter). We also analyzed the concentrations of uranium (half-life 4.5 billion years) in the waters by ICP/MS to compare with natural reduction of radon concentration. The radon concentrations of 68 groundwater-supply systems occupying 22.6% of the total samples exceeded the US EPA's Alternative Maximum Contaminant Level (AMCL : 4,000 pCi/L), with the average radon concentration of 7,316 pCi/L (groundwaters), 3,833 pCi/L (tank waters) and 3,407 pCi/L (tap waters). Compared to the radon levels of pumped groundwaters, those of tank and tap waters naturally reduced significantly down to about 50%. Especially, in case of 29 groundwater-supply systems with the groundwater radon concentrations of 4,000~6,000 pCi/L, average radon concentrations of the tank and tap waters naturally decreased down to the AMCL. Therefore this study implies that radon concentrations of drinking groundwater can be effectively reduced by sufficient storage and residence in tanks.

• 한국산업보건학회지
• /
• 제24권4호
• /
• pp.518-527
• /
• 2014

Objectives: The adverse health effects attributed to exposure to radon have been well known over the world. However, the efforts for prevention and mitigation of radon have not been taken in Korea so far. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation methods applied for various types of houses and public buildings with high level of radon. Methods: Based on the results of "National Radon Survey" performed by the National Institute of Environmental Research(NIER) in 2010-2012, we selected 30 candidate buildings consisting of 20 houses and 10 public buildings with greater than $148Bq/m^3$ of radon level. We measured the concentration of radon in 30 buildings, using E-PERMs and RAD-7 during January to March of 2013. More than five E-PERMs and one RAD-7 per house were installed for seven days. Ten houses and five public buildings were finally chosen to be mitigated after mainly considering the level of radon and the location of buildings nationwide. Three mitigation methods such as Sealing, two types of Active Ventilation(window-shaped and wall-typed ventilations), and Active Soil Depressurization(ASD) were applied, and the concentrations of radon were measured before and after mitigation, respectively. To evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation methods, reduction rates of radon were calculated and Wilcoxon's signed-rank test was performed. Results: The mean concentration of 15 buildings just before radon mitigation was $297.8Bq/m^3$, and most of the buildings were located in Gangwon, Chungbuk, Chungnam, and Daegu areas(73.3%), and built in 1959-1998. The level of radon decreased from 48% to 90% and kept the below recommendation limit of $148Bq/m^3$ after installation of radon mitigation. Among mitigation methods applied, the reduction rate(58.7-90.4%) of radon attributed to ASD was the greatest than that of other methods, followed by Active Ventilation(48.4-78.4%) and Sealing(<22%). The effectiveness of radon reduction by window-shaped Active Ventilation(63.2-75.2%) was relatively better than that of wall-typed Active Ventilation(48.4-54.3%). Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that ASD could be more effective for radon mitigation. Moreover, our findings would be background information in future for making the strategy for radon mitigation nationwide, as well as for developing Korean-version of mitigation techniques according to types of dwellings in Korea.

• 디지털산업정보학회논문지
• /
• 제16권1호
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2020

This paper is a IoT-based radon meter control system and a radon meter control method using it. The IoT-based radon meter control system is control system for controlling a radon meter by network-connecting radon meter and a user terminal. The radon measuring device may be provided with a radon sensor to measure a radon value of a preset management target area, it collect and store numerical data. The radon meter control system monitors the condition of the radon meter, it includes control center configured to deliver radon meter management information generated to a user terminal. Also radon measurements to determine the exact amount of radon gas. Therefore, the situation-specific actions based on radon numbers can be promptly implemented to ensure adequate protection for those who are vulnerable to radon and those who live in the area. Condition monitoring allows the radon meter to respond quickly to failure or failure of the radon meter. In addition, it is possible to secure a baseline of radon's influence and to obtain research data to cope with radon by establishing big data with radon measurements.

• 자원ㆍ환경경제연구
• /
• 제31권4호
• /
• pp.505-529
• /
• 2022

라돈은 폐암사망 위험을 일으키는 방사성 가스이다. 본 논문은 조건부가치측정법(CVM)을 이용하여 우리나라 주택에서의 라돈 노출로 인한 사망자의 통계적 생명가치(VSL)를 20억 5,373만 원으로 추정하였다. 2020년의 경우, 주택 라돈으로 인한 사망자 수는 2,330명, 그 사회적 비용은 4조 7,836억 원으로 추정하였다. 주택에 대한 국가 라돈 농도 규제기준을 200Bq/m³로 설정하면 691명의 사망자 수가 감소하여 1조 4,191억 원의 사회적 편익이 발생하는 것으로 나타났다. 본 논문은 주택 라돈 노출의 원천과 특징 및 건강위해성(health risk)을 상세히 논하고 주택 라돈 저감을 위한 정책 예산의 획기적인 증액이 중요함을 강조하였다.