Radon Risk Management in Public Buildings in Northwest Portugal: From Short-Term Characterization to the Design of Specific Mitigation Actions
António Curado1, João P. Silva2, Sérgio I. Lopes3
1António Curado, ProMetheus – Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Viana do Castelo, Portugal. CONSTRUCT LFC, Faculty of Engineering FEUP, University of Porto, Portugal.
2João P. Silva, ProMetheus – Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Viana do Castelo, Portugal.
3Sérgio I. Lopes, ARC4DigIT – Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Viana do Castelo, Portugal. Instituto de Telecomunicações, Aveiro, Portugal.
Manuscript received on 02 June 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 27 June 2019 | Manuscript Published on 04 July 2019 | PP: 1-7 | Volume-8 Issue-1S4 June 2019 | Retrieval Number: A10180681S419/2019©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: Portugal is a country with a considerable risk regarding natural radiation since in a considerable part of the territory the soil is mainly composed of granitic rocks, containing high uranium levels. Radon gas is currently classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as a Group 1 carcinogen. To tackle the problem since the beginning of 2019 there is new legislation in force to regulate indoor occupational exposure to radon gas. An experimental study was carried out in a city in the Northwest of Portugal by taking short-term measurements in a set of 15 municipal buildings (schools, museums, galleries, theaters, and municipal bureaus and offices, etc.) differing not only on its architecture and its construction period, but also on the number of occupants, its habits, and occupancy schedules. The in situ characterization allowed highlighting radon risk to which buildings’ occupants are subject to, and by results analysis to propose a radon management strategy aimed at minimizing the risk of occupant exposure.
Keywords: Radon Management Strategy, Radon Mitigation, Radon Risk Analysis.
Scope of the Article: Simulation Optimization and Risk Management