Baulicher und lüftungstechnischer Radonschutz

Radon and its radioactive daughter elements cause hundreds of deaths due to lung cancer in Austria each year. As a natural occurring noble gas, Radon can resign easily out of its place of origin, mainly bedrock. It can travel by means of diffusion and convection through the lower building envelope into the indoor air. The radioactive daughters of Radon are likely to adhere to solid particles in aerosols. In case of inhalation, they can further stick onto bronchia, where the emitted radiation increases the risk of causing lung cancer. Especially during heating sea-sons, inhabited buildings tend to act as plungers. Due to the stack effect, a small vacuum compared to the underground beneath is generated, causing suction of Radon to enter the building through leakages in floor slabs, basement floors and walls. Particularly in closed rooms, there is a risk of being exposed to indoor air with high concentrations of Radon. Con-struction specialists play a key role in the containment of the problematic situation caused by Radon and its daughter elements, both in existing and newly constructed buildings. In a bachelor thesis, the most relevant contents of the Austrian Radon Hand Book have been compiled to assist Architects and Civil Engineers in providing sufficient protection against Ra-don for future and present building residents. In addition, adequate surveillance and mainte-nance methods have been discussed to ensure proper working of Radon protection measures. Anti-Radon measures that are already considered in an early stage of planning de-velop to be much easier and more effective compared to measure implemented subsequent-ly. Additionally, even costs of remediation measures can be kept low, provided that the ap-proach is well-conceived and carefully implemented. In a case study executed independently, the theory is transferred to practice. From the evaluation of local building conditions right up to analytic measurements, results will be interpreted, and appropriate remediation measures presented and discussed (Klose, 2018).