Tipp house has 45 times normal radon gas levels

A HOUSE in Co Tipperary had to have special equipment installed after it was discovered it had 45 times the acceptable level of a radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer.

According to experts, if a person stayed in the room where the highest radon reading level was recorded day and night for a year he or she would be exposed to 10 times the radiation allowed to be experienced by a worker at Sellafield nuclear power plant.

But the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) estimates almost 90,000 more Irish homes have undetected high levels of radon gas, a high number of them in the south-east and west of the country.

The home owner near Ballyporeen was alerted to the high radon measurement shortly before Christmas after bringing in testing equipment to his house.

The alarming level of 9,000 becquerels per cubic meter (Bq/m³) found in one room is one of the highest found in any home by the RPII. It is estimated that a lifetime exposure to radon in the home at the reference level of 200 Bq/m³ carries a risk of about 1 in 50 of contracting fatal lung cancer.

“Householders need to take this matter seriously and measure radon levels in their homes to ensure they and their families are not at risk,” said RPII director of advisory services Dr Tony Colgan.

“Remediation is relatively cheap compared to other household repairs, and resolves the situation immediately. People are receiving radiation doses that would not be tolerated by workers in Sellafield, and it is unacceptable that they are exposed to such dangerous levels,” he said.

The cost of installing a sump, which allows the radon to be drawn out of an average-sized house, is about €2,000. The Tipperary householder had one set up in the house and subsequent measurements show the radon has dropped to less than 45 Bq/m³.

About one-in-five homes in parts of south Tipperary and north Cork are believed to have high levels of the gas. Last September a radon reading measurement 60 times the reference level was taken in a room at The Corkman newspaper’s offices in Mallow, Co Cork.

* A set of maps on the RPII website (www.rpii.ie) shows high radon areas.