Environmental Protection Agency, 3 Clonskeagh Square, Clonskeagh Road, Dublin 14, Ireland.
School of Mathematical Sciences, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
J Environ Radioact. 2017 Apr;169-170:1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.11.034. Epub 2016 Dec 24.
In 2002, a National Radon Survey (NRS) in Ireland established that the geographically weighted national average indoor radon concentration was 89 Bq m. Since then a number of developments have taken place which are likely to have impacted on the national average radon level. Key among these was the introduction of amending Building Regulations in 1998 requiring radon preventive measures in new buildings in High Radon Areas (HRAs). In 2014, the Irish Government adopted the National Radon Control Strategy (NRCS) for Ireland. A knowledge gap identified in the NRCS was to update the national average for Ireland given the developments since 2002. The updated national average would also be used as a baseline metric to assess the effectiveness of the NRCS over time. A new national survey protocol was required that would measure radon in a sample of homes representative of radon risk and geographical location. The design of the survey protocol took into account that it is not feasible to repeat the 11,319 measurements carried out for the 2002 NRS due to time and resource constraints. However, the existence of that comprehensive survey allowed for a new protocol to be developed, involving measurements carried out in unbiased randomly selected volunteer homes. This paper sets out the development and application of that survey protocol. The results of the 2015 survey showed that the current national average indoor radon concentration for homes in Ireland is 77 Bq m, a decrease from the 89 Bq m reported in the 2002 NRS. Analysis of the results by build date demonstrate that the introduction of the amending Building Regulations in 1998 have led to a reduction in the average indoor radon level in Ireland.
2002 年，爱尔兰进行了全国氡气调查（NRS），结果显示全国平均室内氡浓度为 89 Bq/m。自那时以来，发生了一些可能影响全国平均氡水平的变化。其中关键的是，1998 年引入了修订后的建筑法规，要求在高氡区（HRA）的新建筑物中采取预防氡气的措施。2014 年，爱尔兰政府通过了《爱尔兰国家氡气控制战略》（NRCS）。NRCS 中确定的一个知识空白是，鉴于 2002 年以来的发展情况，更新爱尔兰的全国平均值。更新后的全国平均值也将作为一个基准指标，用于评估 NRCS 随时间推移的有效性。需要制定一个新的全国性调查方案，以测量具有代表性的氡气风险和地理位置的家庭中的氡气。该调查方案的设计考虑到由于时间和资源限制，无法重复进行 2002 年 NRS 中进行的 11319 次测量。然而，该全面调查的存在使得可以开发一种新的方案，包括在无偏见的随机选择的志愿者家庭中进行的测量。本文介绍了该调查方案的制定和应用。2015 年调查的结果表明，爱尔兰目前家庭的室内氡浓度平均值为 77 Bq/m，低于 2002 年 NRS 报告的 89 Bq/m。按建筑日期对结果进行分析表明，1998 年引入的修订后的建筑法规导致爱尔兰室内氡气平均水平降低。
