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Virginia Tech researcher Dwight Atkinson is interested in characterizing the various types of soil found in the country according to their ability to allow radon to pass through them.
The geology of the underlying soil and rock is another factor. A fault which intersects with a uranium deposit, for example, may act as a vent, channeling the gas into homes further away from the deposit.
“The residents of southwest Virginia may be at an especially high risk due to the presence of fractured bedrock and faults which could provide a pathway for radon to migrate into homes and mines,” says Mr. Atkinson, who is with the environmental engineering division.
Coal miners, he said, may be particularly vulnerable, because they spend so much time underground in areas with large exposed rock surfaces. Mr. Atkinson is seeking funds from the Powell River Project to do a year-long survey of homes and mines in southwest Virginia. The project is a consortium of Virginia coal mining companies formed to promote the welfare of residents in that part of the state.
The homes will be monitored during both cold and warm weather seasons with simple, inexpensive devices called “track etch” detectors which record marks left by radon on sensitized film. The film is processed and the tracks counted to estimate radon levels. Other devices called charcoal canisters will be used in the mines. The canisters absorb radon and are then treated to determine levels of radioactive particles.
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