The correlation between indoor radon concentration for different types of residential building and its ages

Abstract

Radon is a naturally occurring gas originated from the geology material. Most of the building materials like bricks, concrete blocks, aggregates, sand, and soil produce radon gas and it will exhale into the residential building. The high contamination of indoor radon gas in the residential building is very harmful to human health because the radon gas can be the main contributor to the lung cancer disease. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the indoor radon concentration in residential building as well as its relationship with building material and age of the building. This study also identifies the correlation between indoor radon concentration and its building elevation. The Radon Eye detector has been used to measure the indoor radon concentration. Based on the finding results, the indoor radon concentration of concrete type residence is higher than the wooden type residence as 283 Bq/m3 of indoor radon was recorded at Hotel in Putrajaya which this residence is made by concrete material while the lowest indoor radon concentration of 14.13 Bq/m3 was recorded at wooden residence located at Felda Sg Koyan 3, Pahang. However, few mitigations can be taken to reduce the indoor radon gas included to provide good ventilation system in the residence.