INDOOR RADON EXPOSURE IN ENERGY-EFFICIENT HOUSES FROM ROMANIA

Modern trends in civil construction are based on increasing the energy efficiency of buildings in which we live. But unfortunately efficient insulation of buildings and the introduction of air conditioning systems and other architectural and energy-efficient technologies lead to elevated indoor radon levels and other chemical pollutants. In this paper the assessment of population exposure to radon in energy efficient buildings was studied. To investigate indoor radon levels in the modern buildings the measurements were performed in 25 energy efficient houses constructed in the last decade by using mostly solid concrete or gas-concrete blocks, by using nuclear track detectors CR-39 exposed for 6-7 months on inhabited area of dwellings, according to the NRPB Measurements Protocol. The overall concentration levels of the indoor radon in the 50 studied rooms varied from 18 to 593 Bqm(-3) with a mean of 160 Bqm(-3). This value is 27% higher than the average reported by authors for conventional homes in Transylvania, Romania.