Radon is a natural radioactive gas that can pose serious health threats, especially when it accumulates in indoor environments, such as homes and workplaces. Its harmful and cancerogenic effect has been confirmed by the World Health Organization since it is a major cause of lung cancer. More in details it is the the first cause of lung cancer in non-smokers and the second, after cigarette smoking, in smokers.

In Europe, the Directive 59/2023/EURATOM has been adopted to address radon exposure in dwellings; this regulation establishes national reference levels and guidelines for defining Radon Priority Areas, which are an area where radon exceed the threshold values in a significant number of buildings.

A study, led by the Department of Geosciences of the University of Padua and recently published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, proposed the first geological-based method to define the radon risk. The research, focused on the pilot site of Val Pusteria, in northern Italy, and carried out in collaboration with the Province of Bolzano, is based on the use of the risk equation to create the first collective radon risk map.

“First of all, we have mapped the Geogenic Radon Potential (GRP) which is the hazard”, explains Eleonora Benà, PhD student of the Department of Geosciences and first author of this study.

For this purpose, machine learning techniques such as Random Forest were also used to take into account both radon concentrations directly measured in the soil and other variables linked to the geology of the area such as, for example, the presence of carrier gases or the permeability of the soil or the fracture density.

“Then we used the vulnerability and the exposure, in particular, the key point is the exposure that it means the population. The main result is that mapping the geological hazard, the so-called Geogenic Radon Potential, is a fundamental starting point in the definition of the radon risk and mapping the collective radon risk exposure is the first step in the definition of the radon priority areas, as required by the European Regulation”, Eleonora Benà adds.

TITLE: A new perspective in radon risk assessment: Mapping the geological hazard as a first step to define the collective radon risk exposure

DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169569

AUTHORS: Benà E., Ciotoli G., Petermann E., Bossew P., Ruggiero L., Verdi L., Huber P., Mori F., Mazzoli C., Sassi R.