Distribution of radon concentrations in child-care facilities in South Korea

Publication date: February 2017
Source:Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, Volume 167
Author(s): Cheol-Min Lee, Myung-hee Kwon, Dae-Ryong Kang, Tae-Hyun Park, Si-Hyun Park, Jung-Eun Kwak
This study was conducted to provide fundamental data on the distribution of radon concentrations in child day-care facilities in South Korea and to help establish radon mitigation strategies. For this study, 230 child-care centers were randomly chosen from all child-care centers nationwide, and alpha track detectors were used to examine cumulative radon exposure concentrations from January to May 2015. The mean radon concentration measured in Korean child-care centers is approximately 52 Bq m⁻³, about one-third of the upper limit of 148 Bq m⁻³, which is recommended by South Korea's Indoor Air Quality Control in Public Use Facilities, etc. Act and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Furthermore, this concentration is about 50% lower than 102 Bq m⁻³, which is the measured concentration of radon in houses nationwide from December 2013 to February 2014. Our results indicate that the amount of ventilation, as a major determining factor for indoor radon concentrations, is strongly correlated with the fluctuation of indoor radon concentrations in Korean child-care centers.



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