title: Finnish radon situation analysed using national measurement database.
abstract: Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) maintains the national indoor radon measurement database in Finland. The analysis of the database material supplements information on radon situation collected by random sampling surveys. The 92,000 dwellings in the database are not a representative sample of the Finnish housing stock. However, the bias is compensated by calculating radon parameters in 1-km(2) cells and weighting the cells by the number of dwellings in the cell. Both the database material and a recent random sampling survey show that radon concentrations in new Finnish houses have been decreasing since the 1990s. This positive trend is clearly stronger in radon-prone areas where preventive measures are nowadays commonly implemented in new construction. The changeover to mechanical supply and exhaust ventilation together with the increase in crawl-space foundations has also contributed to the decrease in the concentrations.
authors.affiliation: Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), Laippatie 4, FI-00881 Helsinki, Finland. tuomas.valmari@stuk.fi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Valmari
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mäkeläinen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Reisbacka
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arvela
mesh_terms: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D009313:National Health Programs; D011886:Radon / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive; D011886:Radon