Re: loosing, Tooth Fairy Project

[Tom Mohaupt <tom.mohaupt@wright.edu>]

Bill,

There is an exception to your contribution. SSI Report 99:18, Radiation
Legislation and National Guidelines, July 1999, looked at radon action and
control levels for European Union countries. Fortunately they sought
information from non-European countries as well, including the US EPA. The
EPA set the radon action level of 4 pCi/l (about 150 Bq/m^3). Practically
everyone else uses 200 Bq/m^3 for new buildings and 400 Bq/m^3 for existing
dwellings as action levels. Control levels (i.e., mitigation is required)
when applicable are substantially higher. The IAEA recommends radon action
levels at 200-600 Bq/m^3 (IAEA Safety Series 115, Radon in Dwellings,
1996). 

Each country was solicited as to whether they would accept a universal
action level. Most countries said Yes, good idea. The EPA's responded that
they would accept a common action level providing other countries lower
their values to 4 pCi/l. Evidently, some people who question the EPA levels
cite the european (and non-european) action levels as a basis that the EPA
levels are too strigent.

William V Lipton wrote:
> 
> This is a typical knee-jerk reaction.  The government is an easy scapegoat.  If
> this has some sort of therapeutic value for you, you're welcome to continue.
> However, I hope that you're not fooling yourself.
> 
> Regardless of the merits of current regulations, they are what they are because
> that's what our peers (e.g., BEIR, ICRP, NCRP, ...) have recommended.  Perhaps
> the standards were made overly conservative with an eye toward boosting
> employment.  Now that these standards are inconvenient, it would not be
> credible to suddenly recant them.
> 
Tom
-- 
Thomas Mohaupt, M.S., CHP
University Radiation Safety Officer

104 Health Sciences Bldg
Wright State University
Dayton, Ohio 45435
tom.mohaupt@wright.edu
(937) 775-2169
(937) 775-3761 (fax)

These were my thoughts and opinions ...

"An investment in knowledge gains the best interest." Ben Franklin
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