Study of the influence of radon in water on radon levels in air in a closed location

Radon, radioactive gas that comes from uranium and radium decay was considered as a carcinogenic element by the World Health Organization in 1988. The hazard of this gas resides in two of its descendants, the Po-214 and Po-218, solid particles that adhere to the aerosols present in the air and are deposited in human lungs causing damage to its tissue. In closed spaces, radon tends to accumulate in the air reaching levels above the legislative limits established in the Directive 59/2019/EURATOM. However, radon is present not only in the air but also in soil, water and building materials. In this research it has been investigated water as a radon source. Due to its high variability, the main objective of this research is to study the influence of water radon concentration into air radon concentration in two situations: at a laboratory scale and in a real installation. For this purpose, an experimental device was designed at laboratory scale to analyze this influence in stable conditions of temperature, relative humidity and atmospheric pressure, thus reducing the interference of these variables in radon measurements. For field measurements, the radon levels in water and its possible influence on the increase in air concentration in a Waste Water Pre-Treatment Plant (WWPTP) have been analyzed.