District 18 plays down radon test results
Published Wednesday November 18th, 2009
Nine rooms in the Stanley School Complex have tested positive for radon levels higher than what's considered acceptable by Health Canada.
Schools in New Brunswick have been undergoing radon testing since Health Canada changed the guideline for the radioactive gas in indoor air from 800 Becquerels per cubic metre (800 Bq/m3) to 200 Bq/m3. A Becquerel is a measure of radioactive decay.
"There are no immediate health concerns related to this," said Wanda Bauer, District 18's director of administration and finance. "It simply means those rooms will have to be ventilated within the next 24 months."
Radon is a radioactive gas formed from the breakdown of naturally occurring uranium from rocks and soil. It has no odour, colour or taste.
Dr. Eilish Cleary, the province's chief medical officer of health, said the gas moves freely through the soil and can seep into buildings through cracks in foundation walls and floors or gaps around pipes and cables.
In a memo to district officials, Cleary said the only known health risk associated with exposure to high levels of radon in indoor air is an increased risk of developing lung cancer.
"This risk is especially increased for persons who smoke," she said in the memo. "There is no evidence that radon exposure causes other harmful health effects such as any other form of cancer or lung diseases."
The Health Canada guideline of 200 Bq/m3 is based on an increased risk of lung cancer for a person exposed to this level of radon for 24 hours per day, seven days per week over 70 years.
Bauer said students and staff at the elementary and high schools in the Stanley complex don't have to worry about the nine rooms that have high levels because they aren't in those rooms enough to be exposed over a long period of time.
She said schools were also tested in the 1990s.
"Most of our schools tested at that time were already below 200 Bq/m3, but will be tested again over the winter months just in case," Bauer said.
Six rooms in the elementary section of the Stanley complex showed levels of radon ranging from 234-383 Bq/m3.
Three rooms in the high school section showed levels ranging from 217-240 Bq/m3.
The Upper Miramichi and Harvey schools have also been tested for radon, but showed levels below the new guidelines.
"The next step is to do remediation ... we expect that will probably happen in the spring or early summer," Bauer said.
Several schools in the province have shown elevated levels of radon.
But Cleary said there's no immediate risk to the health of students and staff in the short term while corrective measures are being put in place to reduce the levels.
District 18 officials are expecting to test three more schools this winter.
The remediation is expected to involve room ventilation and may include upgrading the ventilation system in the school.
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