A new perspective in radon risk assessment

Radon is a natural radioactive gas that can pose serious health threats, especially when it accumulates in indoor environments, such as homes and workplaces. Its harmful and cancerogenic effect has been confirmed by the World Health Organization since it is a major cause of lung cancer. More in details it is the the first cause of lung cancer in non-smokers and the second, after cigarette smoking, in smokers.
In Europe, the Directive 59/2023/EURATOM has been adopted to address radon exposure in dwellings; this regulation establishes national reference levels and guidelines for defining Radon Priority Areas, which are area where radon exceeds the threshold values in a significant number of buildings.
A study, led by the Department of Geosciences of the University of Padua and recently published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, proposed the first geological-based method to define the radon risk. The research, focused on the pilot site of Val Pusteria, in northern Italy, and carried out in collaboration with the Province of Bolzano, is based on the use of the risk equation to create the first collective radon risk map.
An insight with Eleonora Benà, PhD student of the Department of Geosciences and first author of this study