Ground level survey of radon in a two county area

CHED 1094

Heather C. Collier, hc150920@reddies.hsu.edu, Chemistry, Henderson State University, 1100 Henderson Street, Arkadelphia, AR 71999 and Bryan D. Palmer, palmer@hsu.edu, Department of Chemistry, Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, AR 71923.
Radon-222 is a naturally occurring radioactive decay product of uranium-238. The World Health Organization reports radon-222 to be the cause of 15% of lung cancer deaths worldwide. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides an online map of the United States which shows zones of potential radon levels. The EPA report cautions that radon levels may be highly variable within any particular area due to a number of factors such as geology and soil permeability. The Arkansas map of radon zones by county shows Henderson State University to be located in a county with a low radon potential. An adjoining county is shown to be within a zone of moderate radon potential. My project involves developing an inexpensive means of measuring the radon level of a large number of high occupancy sites in the two county area. Experimental procedures and results to date will be discussed.
 

Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Environmental Chemistry
2:00 PM-4:00 PM, Monday, April 7, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Hall A, Poster

Division of Chemical Education

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008