Radon – risks to public health

Why radon? 

300 Bq/m3 of radon in your home’s air is equal to the health damage similar to the damage from smoking eight cigarettes a day or equal to 254 X-ray observations in one year. In Ukraine, up to 8,000 people die of radon lung cancer a year.

The state of the problem in Ukraine

This year, the first stage of the Action Plan to Reduce Radon Doses to the Public, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in November 2019, is ending. Over the years, specialists of the Laboratory of Radiation Protection of the State Institution “Marzieiev Institute for Public Health of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine” (SI “IPH of NAMSU”) have analyzed their databases of radon measurements in the air of residential buildings (more than 32 thousand) and determined radiation risks for the population of the studied regions of Ukraine.

Percentage of houses with exceeded reference levels of radon in the air in the studied regions (white – no information available).

CONCLUSION: Radon activity varies widely in the studied areas. The international reference level (300 Bq/m3 ) is exceeded in 16% of buildings in the country as a whole, but at the level of individual regions, the percentage of exceedances varies from 0.1 to 43%. For more details on the results of these studies, please follow the links.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347996984_EXPOSURE_LEVELS_OF_UKRAINIAN_POPULATION_IN_THE_CONTEXT_OF_AN_ACTION_PLAN_TO_REDUCE_INDOOR_RADON_LEVELS

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339676500_Osoblivosti_planuvanna_doslidzen_rivniv_radonu_u_povitri_budinkiv_u_ramkah_realizacii_planu_dij

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350187845_Persocergovi_zavdanna_planu_dij_sodo_zmensenna_rivniv_radonu_v_povitri_budinkiv

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/375782037_To_the_issue_of_monitoring_radon_activity_concentrations_in_the_context_to_implementation_of_state_action_plan

Within the framework of the research project “Scientific and Methodological Support of the State Action Plan to Reduce Radon Levels in the Air of Residential and Public Buildings,” which is being carried out at the SI “IPH NAMSU,” the situation in Ukraine was analyzed. Further successful implementation of the Action Plan depends primarily on the availability of an appropriate regulatory framework. Therefore, over the past three years, the efforts of the Laboratory of Radiation Protection specialists have been aimed at developing and implementing many regulatory documents, namely:

  • Sanitary Regulations “Basic Safety Standards for the Handling of Materials Containing Radionuclides of Natural Origin” (submitted to the Ministry of Health for approval);
  • Methodological Recommendations “Methodology for Radon Monitoring” (approved by order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine No. 1786 dated 10/13/2023, registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine No. 1874/40930 dated 10/27/2023);
  • The Procedure for Radon Monitoring in Ukraine and Notification of Radiation Risks (approved by Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine No. 1786 dated 10/13/2023, registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine No. 1874/40930 dated 10/27/2023);
  • Methodological Recommendations “Determination and Assessment of Radon Activity Concentrations at Workplaces” (submitted to the Ministry of Health for approval).

Work in this direction is ongoing.

Head of the Laboratory of Radiation Protection,

Doctor of Sciences (Biology), Professor Tatiana PAVLENKO

(date of publication on the website 06.08.2024)