Earth, Air, Radon and Home

APR 01, 1989

These four elements of our environment interact to deliver the largest radiation dose we receive—equivalent to what the world’s population would get from several Chernobyls per year.

DOI: 10.1063/1.881213

Anthony Nero

Our use of nuclear technology for medicine, energy and weapons during this century has led to growing awareness of the potentially harmful effects of radiation. Many people are even aware that exposures from weapons testing and from normally operating nuclear power plants have been far below those from the Earth’s natural radioactivity and cosmic rays. The only human activities that routinely cause doses approaching those from natural radiation are medical uses of radiation for diagnosis or therapy.

References

1. For a review, see W. W. Nazaroff, A. V. Nero, eds., Radon and Its Decay Products in Indoor Air, Wiley, New York (1988).
See also Lynn M. Hubbard’s review of this book, in this issue of PHYSICS TODAY, p. 72
2. A. V. Nero, in Radon and Its Decay Products in Indoor Air, W. W. Nazaroff, A. V. Nero, eds., Wiley, New York (1988), p. 1.
3. Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation, National Academy of Sciences, Health Risks of Radon and Other Internally Deposited Alpha Emitters, Natl. Acad. P., Washington, D.C. (1988).
4. A. C. James, in Radon and Its Decay Products in Indoor Air, W. W. Nazaroff, A. V. Nero, eds., Wiley, New York (1988), p. 259.
5. K. W. Ford, G. I. Rochlin, R. H. Socolow, in W. Carnahan et al., eds., Efficient Use of Energy, AIP Conf. Proc. 25, AIP, New York (1975), p. 52.
6. W. W. Nazaroff, B. A. Moed, R. G. Sextro, in Radon and Its Decay Products in Indoor Air, W. W. Nazaroff, A. V. Nero, eds., Wiley, New York (1988), p. 57.
7. A. V. Nero, M. B. Schwehr, W. W. Nazaroff, K. L. Revzan, Science 234, 992 (1986).https://doi.org/SCIEAS
8. B. L. Cohen, Health Phys. 51, 175 (1986).https://doi.org/HLTPAO
9. H. W. Alter, R. A. Oswald, J. Air Pollution Control Assoc. 37, 227 (1987).
10. US Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Health and Human Services, A Citizen’s Guide to Radon, publ. no. OPA‐86‐004, Washington, D.C. (1986).
11. “EPA Finds Radon Problems in 10‐State Survey,” press release, EPA, Washington, D.C. (4 August 1987).
“EPA and Assistant Surgeon General Call for Radon Home Testing,” press release, EPA, Washington, D.C. (12 September 1988).
12. E. O. Knutson, in Radon and Its Decay Products in Indoor Air, W. W. Nazaroff, A. V. Nero, eds., Wiley, New York (1988), p. 161.
13. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, Evaluation of Occupational and Environmental Exposures to Radon and Radon Daughters in the United States, report no. 78, NCRP, Bethesda, Md. (1984).
14. A. V. Nero, in Radon and Its Decay Products in Indoor Air, W. W. Nazaroff, A. V. Nero, eds., Wiley, New York (1988), p. 459.
15. A. V. Nero, Sci. Am., May 1988, p. 42.

More about the Authors

Anthony Nero. Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.