Video Text
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The following is the text of a video clip made by Dr. Milton Lammering, Radiation Program Manager (ret.), Region VIII EPA from 1980 through 2001. This video was recorded July 3, 2003. "EPA’s Indoor radon program was started in the early 1980s. The objectives of the program were, and continue to be, to inform the general public about the health risk of radon, to motivate homeowners to undertake testing and to install a radon reduction system when elevated levels are detected. For evaluating the exposure risk from the inhalation of radon US EPA recommends two testing procedures. One is the direct measurement of the dose causing radon decay products, or secondly radon gas measurement. If radon measurement is used, the action level is 4.0 pCi/L or higher. If radon decay product measurement is used the corresponding action level is 0.02 Working Levels or higher. Now EPA has concluded that the measurement of radon gas is a reasonable surrogate for the more difficult and higher cost radon decay product measurement. Experience gained from nearly twenty years of testing, has shown that in most homes a radon concentration below 4.0 pCi/L will correspond to a radon decay product concentration below 0.02 Working Levels. Now although a radon measurement is less difficult to conduct and of lower cost to the consumer, there are situations where the radon decay product measurement is more appropriate and these are situations where the radon measurement substantially overestimates the radon decay product concentration and the associated level of risk. An example would be where the air movement from forced air systems occurs or where air filtration equipment exists". "Now references to radon decay product measurement and the 0.02 WL action level are made in two EPA publications which have been designed for homeowners. Now one is the Citizen’s Guide to Radon. A second publication is the Home Buyer’s and Seller’s Guide". "The question is often asked: Is radon decay product measurement an acceptable procedure? The answer to this question is yes. EPA recognizes two testing procedures. One is the direct measurement of radon decay products and the second is the measurement of radon gas. Now if all factors are equal, the direct measurement of radon decay products is the preferable approach and this is because it provides the most accurate assessment of health risk".
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