Mapping variation in radon potential both between and within geological units

• Published in: Journal of radiological protection Vol. 25; no. 3; p. 257
• Main Authors: Miles, J C H, Appleton, J D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01-09-2005
• Subjects: Air Pollutants, Radioactive - analysis; Air Pollution, Indoor - analysis; Biometry; Geological Phenomena; Geology; Humans; Radon - analysis; Soil Pollutants, Radioactive - analysis; United Kingdom
• ISSN: 0952-4746
• DOI: 10.1088/0952-4746/25/3/003

Previously, the potential for high radon levels in UK houses has been mapped either on the basis of grouping the results of radon measurements in houses by grid squares or by geological units. In both cases, lognormal modelling of the distribution of radon concentrations was applied to allow the estimated proportion of houses above the UK radon Action Level (AL, 200 Bq m(-3)) to be mapped. This paper describes a method of combining the grid square and geological mapping methods to give more accurate maps than either method can provide separately. The land area is first divided up using a combination of bedrock and superficial geological characteristics derived from digital geological map data. Each different combination of geological characteristics may appear at the land surface in many discontinuous locations across the country. HPA has a database of over 430,000 houses in which long-term measurements of radon concentration have been made, and whose locations are accurately known. Each of these measurements is allocated to the appropriate bedrock--superficial geological combination underlying it. Taking each geological combination in turn, the spatial variation of radon potential is mapped, treating the combination as if it were continuous over the land area. All of the maps of radon potential within different geological combinations are then combined to produce a map of variation in radon potential over the whole land surface.