Home radon monitor modeled after the common smoke detector

摘要

The EPA has declared that five million or so of the nation's 80 million homes may have indoor radon levels that pose an unacceptably high risk of lung cancer to occupants. They estimate that four times as many people die from radon-induced lung cancers as from fires in the home. Therefore the EPA has recommended that all homes be tested and that action be taken to reduce the radon concentration in homes that test above the 4 pCi/L level. The push to have homeowners voluntarily test for elevated radon levels has been only marginally successful. A reliable, inexpensive, and accurate in-home radon monitor designed along the same general lines as a home smoke detector might overcome much of the public reluctance to test homes for radon. Such a Home Radon Monitor (HRM) is under development at Los Alamos National Laboratory. To be acceptable to the public, HRMs should have the following characteristics in common with smoke detectors: low cost, small size, ease of installation and use, low maintenance, and high performance. Recent advances in Long-Range Alpha Detection technology are being used in the design of a HRM that should meet or exceed all these characteristics. A proof-of-principle HRM detector prototype has been constructed and results from tests of this prototype will be presented.