Joint Analysis of Long- and Short-Term Radon Monitoring Data from the Northern U.S

Date Published
01/1996
Publication Type
Journal Article
Authors
LBL Report Number
LBNL-37276
Abstract

This paper analyzes data collected as part of two types of radon surveys of U.S. homes-the National Residential Radon Survey (NRRS) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)/State Residential Radon Surveys (SRRS)-to determine the distribution of annual-average, living-area radon concentrations for ground-contact homes in the northern U.S. A statistical model is used to link the short-term SRRS measurement in each home with the home's annual-average, living-area radon concentration, although in no case are both a short- and long-term measurement available for the same home. This paper shows that, even though an individual short-term winter measurement from the SRRS is a poor predictor of the home's annual-average, living-area radon concentration, an aggregation of such measurements can be used, after adjusting for bias, to characterize the distribution of annual-average, living-area concentrations as determined by the NRRS. Different types of homes require different adjustment equations. This paper presents the adjustment equations and uses them to estimate parameters describing annual-average, living-area concentration distributions. Model approximations and validation are briefly discussed. The methods presented here could be applied to calibrate other radon data sets.

Journal
Environmental International
Volume
22
Year of Publication
1996
Issue
1
Number
1
Pagination
669-714
URL
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