A NEW national survey has found high levels of the radioactive gas, radon, in homes in parts of Louth Wicklow. The naturally occurring gas has been linked to lung cancer.
The first phase of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) national survey covered 691 households in five counties: Cavan, Dublin, Louth, Monaghan and Wicklow.
The Institute's principal science officer, Dr Ann McGarry, said householders in all areas designated "High Radon Areas" should have their homes tested. The institute also said that new houses in these areas should have radon preventive measures incorporated. The survey found that 59 households across the five counties, or 8.5 per cent of those tested, had radon concentrations over the accepted maximum. In Louth and Wicklow more than I4 per cent of houses tested appeared to have levels over the limit. In Wicklow the highest measured maximum radon concentration was more than five times the limit.
The institute mapped the counties in grids of to square kilometres, colour coding those areas according to the percentage of houses expected to exceed the radon level limit. Any area with more than one in 10 houses exceeding the limit (known as the reference level) was designated a High Radon Area. Around half the area of Wicklow was designated this way.
"In some of these areas you have a one in five chance of having a level above the reference level," according to Dr McGarry. "It doesn't mean that everybody living in these areas is in trouble."
The report stressed that households outside designated pockets were not necessarily radon free.
In Dublin, an area between the Meath border and Balbriggan was pinpointed on the north side. On the south side a small area adjoining the Wicklow border was coded as another hot spot.
Cavan had just over three grid squares designated hotspots, while the Cooley peninsula of Louth also had a greater than one in 10 chance of being over the limit. Monaghan appeared to be the least badly affected. However, a large area of the county was not covered by the survey because of insufficient data.
The increased levels were associated with granite deposits which contain high levels of uranium, which in turn produces the radon, Dr McGarry said.
The institute expects to complete the national survey by 1998 and, according to Dr McGarry, the first results indicate that the survey will find a slightly higher national level than a previous survey.
"Householders often appear reluctant to have remedial work carried out, even when the radon level is four or five times the reference level," Dr McGarry said. The institute recognised that the cost of remedial action was a major stumbling block for many householders and had advised the Government that some form of grant assistance should be made available to encourage such action.
Results from the last radon survey by the experimental physics department of UCD, completed in 1989, estimated that 4 per cent of houses in the State have more radon than the acceptable level.
In particular, the UCD study pinpointed western counties. A 1994 report looked at selected areas of Galway and south Cork city.
The latest survey looked at a minimum of five houses per 10 square kilometres. Fifty householders in each area were invited to participate in the survey. Each participant was issued with two radon detectors, one in the main living area and the second in an occupied bedroom. The detectors were left in place for a year.
Radon is measured in units known as becquerels per cubic metre. The accepted maximum or reference level is 200. For a person whose household level is equal to this, the lifetime risk of contracting lung cancer is one in 50.
Householders who want to have their homes tested can avail of the institute's measurement service which costs £15. The institute recommends using two detectors over a three month period.
The RPII contact number is Freephone 1800 300 600.
