Mitigation of thoron exposure by application of wallpaper as a diffusion barrier.
Increasing attention has been paid in recent years to the radioactive gas thoron ((220)Rn), which can cause a significant exposure and increase of lung cancer risk in some regions worldwide. Some experiments were designed to examine whether different types of wall decoration in the room, from ordinary newsprint to commercial wallpaper, can mitigate the concentrations of indoor thoron decay products. Decoration with coated paper was very effective in decreasing the thoron decay products concentration, thus reducing the effective dose by 90 %, while newsprint decoration, which is common in many rural parts of the world, was found to have a smaller but still significant effect in reducing the thoron decay products concentration when applied to the same house.
Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health,  Institute of Radiation Protection, Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg,  Germany.
J
J
Wang
O
O
Meisenberg
Y H
YH
Chen
L
L
Bi
J
J
Tschiersch
D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor; D003252:Construction Materials; D004058:Diffusion; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005740:Gases; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods*; D011886:Radon / Q000032:analysis*; D017687:Radon Daughters
D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive; D005740:Gases; D017687:Radon Daughters; D011886:Radon