40.

RADON IN
YOUR HOUSE

W E S S E L D U P L E S S I S
 • What Radon looks like.

• How we discovered Radon gas in our homes and the story of Stanley

Watras.

• The Radon belt.

AGENDA
• Why do we have radon in our homes?

• How you can prevent your home from becoming dangerously radioactive.
 W H AT R A D O N
DOES TO OUR
LUNGS
• Radon goes into the lungs and gets trapped there. It then starts
decaying which causes serious damage to the lung tissue
which can lead to cancer if exposed to for a long time.
HOW DID WE DISCOVER RADON
GAS BUILD-UP IN OUR HOMES?

• Mr. Stanley j. Watras was an Engineer at the Limerick Nuclear powerplant, at work they
had just installed the Radiation leak detecting equipment. When Mr. Watras walked
through the door the next day, he set off all the alarms.
• the strange thing was that the plant was still under construction and there was no nuclear
material on site!
• So, after trying to find the source of the radiation at work the figured that it must be at his
house and boy where they right.
• When they tested his house, they discovered a radiation reading of 2700pCi/L, the reading
considered safe is roughly 4pCi/L (pico Curies per liter)
• Radon is the 2nd leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S.
• I am glad to report that Mr. Stanley lived a long and happy life he passed away in 1997 at
the age of 79 and his children are still alive today.
 THE
RADON
B E LT
W H Y D O W E H AV E R A D O N I N O U R
HOMES?

• Radon gas is formed as Radium crystals in the ground break down.

• From there it slowly seeps out of the ground because it is a gas.
• It tends to seep into rooms like the basement first as the basement is directly
in contact with the soil.
• It also accumulates in rooms with bad circulation.
• This wasn’t as big of a problem in the past as houses had relatively bad
insulation, but with modern building techniques houses are much better
insulated and this leads to a build-up of Radon gas.
AT L E A S T
IT’S EASY
TO GET
RID OF!
 HOW YOU CAN PREVENT YOUR
HOME FROM BECOMING
D A N G E R O U S LY R A D I O A C T I V E .
• T H E E A S I E S T M E T H O D I S T O I N C R E A S E T H E A M O U N T O F
V E N T I L AT I O N Y O U R E C E I V E I N Y O U R H O M E , J U S T O P E N I N G T H E
W I N D O W S A N D L E T T I N G A B R E E Z E I N C A N S I G N I F I C A N T LY
D E C R E A S E R A D O N L E V E L S .

• A L T E R N AT I V E L Y, T H E R E A R E V E N T P I P E S Y S T E M S T H AT C A N B E
I N S T A L L E D W H I C H V E N T T H E R A D O N G A S T O T H E O U T S I D E O F
Y O U R H O M E

• Y O U C O U L D S E A L C R A C K S I N T H E F L O O R A N D T H E WA L L S O F
T H E B A S E M E N T A S M O S T O F T H E G A S L E A K S I N F R O M T H E S O I L .
THANK YOU!
 SOURCES
Radon in homes https://www.radonillinois.com/the-discovery-of-radon-in-homes-the-story-of-stanley-watras/

The Radon belt https://www.epa.gov/radon/epa-map-radon-zones

Radon gas https://www.reddit.com/r/Physics/comments/24xt89/radioactive_radon_gas_injected_into_cloud_chamber/

Radon belt photo 1

https://www.google.com/search?q=the+radon+belt&sxsrf=ALiCzsa_y_5lv3SDxAMNXQrJ_zoCG53Uxw:1666768270876&source=lnms
&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi1htXVq_36AhVsiYsKHTgoCt4Q_AUoAnoECAEQBA&biw=734&bih=604&dpr=1.25#imgrc=iD7Q
7hpo_Zy-JM&imgdii=eZE6GVPcAjITZM

How to prevent dangerous levels of Radon https://www.cdc.gov/radon/radon-action.html