Testing
ASTM E-2121 is a US standard for reducing radon in homes as far as practicable below 4 picocuries per liter (pCi/L) (148 Bq/m3) in indoor air. Radon test kits are commercially available. The kit includes a collector that the user hangs in the lowest livable floor of the house for 2 to 7 days. The user then sends the collector to a laboratory for analysis. The National Environmental Health Association provides a list of radon measurement professionals in the United States. Long-term kits, taking collections from 91 days to one year, are also available. An open land test kit can test radon emissions from the land before construction begins. The EPA and the National Environmental Health Association have identified 15 types of radon testing. A Lucas cell is one type of device.
Radon levels fluctuate naturally. An initial test might not be an accurate assessment of a home's average radon level. Transient weather can affect short-term measurements. Therefore, a high result (over 4 pCi/L) justifies repeating the test before undertaking more expensive abatement projects. Measurements between 4 and 10 pCi/L (148 and 370 Bq/m3) warrant a long-term radon test. Measurements over 10 pCi/L (370 Bq/m3) warrant only another short-term test so that abatement measures are not unduly delayed. Purchasers of real estate are advised to delay or decline a purchase if the seller has not successfully abated radon to 4 pCi/L or less.
The National Environmental Health Association administers a voluntary National Radon Proficiency Program for radon professionals consisting of individuals and companies wanting to take training courses and examinations to demonstrate their competency. A list of mitigation service providers is available.
There is no regulation in Canada that governs what is deemed to be an acceptable radon gas level in a house. It is the choice of each homeowner to determine what level of radon gas exposure they are willing to accept. Canadian Government, in conjunction with the territories and provinces, developed the guideline to indicate when remedial action should be taken. This guideline was approved by the Federal Provincial Territorial Radiation Protection Committee in October, 2006
Read more about this topic: Radon Mitigation
Famous quotes containing the word testing:
“Today so much rebellion is aimless and demoralizing precisely because children have no values to challenge. Teenage rebellion is a testing process in which young people try out various values in order to make them their own. But during those years of trial, error, embarrassment, a child needs family standards to fall back on, reliable habits of thought and feeling that provide security and protection.”
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)
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—John Michael Hayes (b.1919)
“Now I see that going out into the testing ground of men it is the tongue and not the deed that wins the day.”
—Sophocles (497–406/5 B.C.)