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Glover, PWJ orcid.org/0000-0003-1715-5474 and Blouin, M (2022) Increased Radon Exposure From Thawing of Permafrost Due To Climate Change. Earth's Future, 10 (2). e2021EF002598. ISSN 2328-4277
Abstract
Radon is a natural radioactive gas accounting for approximately one in 10 lung cancer deaths, with substantially higher death rates in sub-Arctic communities. Radon transport is significantly reduced in permafrost, but permafrost is now thawing due to climate change. The effect of permafrost thawing on domestic radon exposure is unknown. Here we present results from radon transport modeling through soil, permafrost, and model buildings either with basements or built on piles. We find that permafrost acts as an effective radon barrier, reducing radiation exposure to a tenth of the background level while producing a ten-fold increase in the radon activity behind the barrier. When we model thawing of the permafrost barrier, we find no increase in radon to the background level for buildings on piles. However, for buildings with basements, the radon increases to over one hundred times its initial value and can remain above the 200 Bq/m3 threshold for up to 7 years depending on the depth of the permafrost and the speed of thawing. When thawing speed is taken into account, radiations remain higher than the threshold for all scenarios where 40% thawing occurs within 15 years. This new information suggests that a significant sub-Arctic population could be exposed to radon levels dangerous to health as a result of climate change thawing of permafrost, with implications for health provision, building codes, and ventilation advice.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Authors. Earth's Future published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Geophysical Union. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. |
Keywords: | radon; climate change; permafrost; diffusion; gas transport; smoking |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Institute for Applied Geosciences (IAG) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 19 Oct 2022 12:42 |
Last Modified: | 20 Feb 2025 16:03 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Geophysical Union |
Identification Number: | 10.1029/2021ef002598 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:191710 |
Available Versions of this Item
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Increased radon exposure from thawing of permafrost due to climate change. (deposited 24 Jan 2022 11:28)
- Increased Radon Exposure From Thawing of Permafrost Due To Climate Change. (deposited 19 Oct 2022 12:42) [Currently Displayed]
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