Assessment of the Contributions of Diffusive and Convective Radon Entry Into the Buildings

The radon presence in residential and office premises is a serious problem, because significant damage to the population collective health is achieved by extremely low concentrations of this radioactive gas. The radon concentration in indoor air is limited at the legislative level. The international organizations recommendations (IAEA, WHO, International Commission on Radiological Protection) establish acceptable doses of radon exposure, on its basis each country approves its own national control levels. Ensuring that the legally prescribed levels of indoor radon are not exceeded is possible only by limiting its entry from the main source. In the vast majority of cases, such a source is the soil under the building. Radon levels in the lower floor rooms are formed by 90% due to its entry from the soil base of the building. Soil gas containing radon in dangerous concentrations enters the premises through leaks in the underground shell of the building due to convection and through underground walling by means of diffusion. The value of radon concentration in the indoor air is determined by the radon flux density from the floor surface, which, in turn, depends on the mechanism of radon transport from the soil into the buildings. The article considers the regularities of the radon situation formation in the lower floor rooms in the entire range of soil permeability – the main factor determining the mechanism of radon transport into the building, and also establishes the boundaries of each transport mechanisms dominance.

А.V. КАLAYDO¹, Candidate of Sciences (Engineering) (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.);
V.I. RIMSHIN^1,2, Professor, Doctor of Sciences (Engineering) (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.);
M.N. SEMENOVA¹, Leading Engineer (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

¹ Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences Research Institute of Building Physics(21, Lokomotivniy Driveway, Moscow, 127238, Russian Federation)
² Moscow State University of Civil Engineering (National Research University) (26, Yaroslavskoye Shosse, Moscow, 1293337, Russian Federation)

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