Impact from indoor air mixing on the thoron progeny concentration and attachment fraction

J Environ Radioact. 2016 Jul:158-159:56-63. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.02.019. Epub 2016 Apr 9.

Abstract

Despite the considerable amount of work in the field of indoor thoron exposure, little studies have focussed on mitigation strategies to reduce exposure to thoron and its progeny. For this reason an advanced computer model has been developed that describes the dispersion and aerosol modelling from first principal using Computational Fluid Dynamics. The purpose of this study is to investigate the mitigation effects from air mixing on the progeny concentration and attachment with aerosols. The findings clearly demonstrate a reduction in thoron progeny concentration due to air mixing. The reduction in thoron progeny is up to 60% when maximum air mixing is applied. In addition there is a reduction in the unattached fraction from 1.2% under regular conditions to 0.3% in case of maximum mixing.

Keywords: (220)Rn; Air mixing; Building materials; Remediation; Thoron.

MeSH terms

  • Aerosols
  • Air Movements
  • Air Pollutants, Radioactive / analysis*
  • Air Pollution, Indoor / analysis*
  • Hydrodynamics
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Radiation Monitoring
  • Radon / analysis*

Substances

  • Aerosols
  • Air Pollutants, Radioactive
  • Radon