Answer to Question #5460 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Q

I am a 16-year-old male. I have found facts that people receive about half their yearly exposure of radiation from radon. The average person receives 1.3 pCi/L per year. My house was tested and is at 3.8 pCi/L. I should have about 48 mSv of background radiation assuming the average is 1.3 pCi/L. How much background radiation do you think I have received in 16 years? Am I in danger with this associated with quite a bit of medical x rays?

A

You have posed a very interesting question with many nuances. First, it is very unlikely that you are in any imminent or long-term danger from your exposure to radon. The US Environmental Protection Agency has established 4 pCi/L as the acceptable limit for radon in homes. The concentration you report for your home is close to but still below this generally accepted safe limit.
The determination of how much background radiation exposure you have received in 16 years is a function of many factors and cannot be readily determined just from the measured concentration in your home, which may or may not be representative of the radon concentration throughout your home. (Radon levels are typically highest in the basement and lower on the second and higher floors).

The first question to ask is how much time you spend in your home. If you spend 12 hours per day in your home and the other 12 hours per day elsewhere where the radon levels are much lower, your total dose would be much lower than if you spent 24 hours of each and every day in your home. And, what about those medical x rays? Yes, they would add to the total, but we need to know what kind and how many in order to estimate their contribution to your total dose.

Other factors contribute to your background radiation dose as well. But once again, it is quite unlikely that you are in any imminent or long-term danger from exposure to radon.

You may wish to refer to previous questions in our Ask the Experts feature on radon for additional information.

Ron Kathren, CHP