An approach towards decreasing or eliminating the radon effects in the buildings

The radon develops as a result of the uranium-238 decay and radioactive decay of radium 226 in which its half of life is 1.600 years and spreads alpha ray. The Radon; • Due to the fact that the administrations never spare relevant effort; lack of radon maps that have been used to define the region where the radon affectivity is more than other regions (although many countries have radon maps, there is not any radon map in Turkey); lack of activities towards raising awareness of the public and manufacturers and there is not any limitations and arrangements for the construction production related to the radon, • People who are taking part in the construction production do not have sufficient information; the designers do not know how to handle with this issue; there is not any supporting and leading methods in this matter, For the above mentioned circumstances, there could be some health problems based on the covered places, qualifications of the users and operating time for the construction. In the literature searches for this subject, although there are a limited number of sources in Turkey, various researches have been carried out in foreign countries. It was observed that many activities have been performed to support the solution method however, any approach has not been discovered to guide the designer how to determine the solution method systematically in accordance with the appropriate solution in case of risky circumstances. In this study, the purpose is to explain the precautions to be taken for the radon for the designers and to provide leading approach and solutions to select the solution methods against the problem. It is anticipated that the designer who attempts to apply systematic design and production way against the different negative effects that cause risks or who could control the negative circumstances could prevent the radon to create health problem in the structure. In order to create the approach proposals, first and foremost, it is foreseen that occurrence and kinesis of the radon and the development of the radon in the construction productions should be searched. The radon has occurred as a result of the degradation of Radium-238 on the rock and soil and has processed towards the water and gas by molecular or molar transmission. Additionally, the products derived from the soil and rocks could contain different rates of Radium-238 and could create radon by disintegrating. After occurrence of the Radon; by means of molecular or molar transmission from the ground where the structure is located and during the activities such as heating by mixing water or gas, cooking and washing, it decomposes from the water and gas and after contacting the atmosphere, through natural and artificial ventilation, it could go into the structure by means of molecular transmission from construction productions. Atmospheric pressure, wind, the heating differences between the inner and outer of the structure, the temperature degree of the soil and humidity and other effects as well as water, gas, construction product affect the density of the radon that could go in to the construction by different means. Depending on these factors, there could be difference in the radon density in the structure. The radon and deformation products that are available in the different levels within the structure are determined by using the passive and active measurement methods. Different institutions (EPA, WHO, UNSCEAR, etc.) and countries have defined the starting limits for the recovery in the current and future structures for the limit values for the radon. In the closed places, if the radon is close or more than limit value, based on the qualifications of the users (age, smoking etc.) and utilization times for the structure, it could cause lung cancer that is the significant health problem. In order to protect from radon that has negative effects on the health; the entrance into the structure must be forbidden or after entering, it must be applied to decrease the density and to search for ejection. In order to prevent the radon exposure in the structure, it is more than important; • To use the active and passive solution methods on the ground, • To take measures in the cover of the structure, • To limit the construction products, • To take measures in terms of water and gas by the administration, To evacuate the radon and to decrease the density of the radon, one or two of the natural and artificial ventilation methods could be used. When considering that unnecessary or insufficient solution selection could not eliminate the problem, it could also increase the cost so that the different approached to be used for defining the appropriate method in the current and future structures have proposed by this study. In the current structures, within the proposals to be applied to decrease the radon activity and eliminate the radon activity; • Collecting the environmental data and preliminary research steps that has started by the measuring decision has formed the inputs of the solution process. • For defining the radon level after the preliminary research, when the measuring results is close to the limit value or more than limit value, the solution decision shall be taken and the solution process shall be started accordingly. • During the solution process, first of all, the risky factors have been searched and then the appropriate solutions have selected respectively. • In the step of the supervision, the measurements will be repeated and if it is over or under the limit value, based on the circumstances, the feedback and data sharing will be selected. • In the data sharing that is the last step, the data has shared with the different institutions. In the structures that will be newly produced, to decrease or eliminate the radon effect, the model proposal to be applied as follows: • It starts with the preliminary research that is composed of the design process input and defined the environmental factor data. • By defining the radon level, if the result is on the limit or over the limit, the design process will be started by taking the decision of the construction design to prevent the radon risk. • In the process of design, first of all, the ways where the radon could enter into the structure will be defined. Afterwards, based on the entrance ways, the appropriate solutions will be provided and the structure will be designed. • In the application step, the decisions that have taken during the design will be controlled. • In the supervision step that is the last step, the measures will be repeated and in accordance with the results, the feedback and data sharing will be provided. • The data transmission will be provided for the various institutions in data sharing. When applying these models that will help to prevent the health risk of radon in the structure; it will be provided to cover the health requirements of the user, to select the appropriate solution method in the direction of the problem, to minimize the cost, to raise the awareness of decision makers, to define the solution method and to prevent time loss, to share the data accordingly. Key Words: Radon, inner construction air pollution, prevention of radon pollution, the construction design to prevent the radon risk.