The BfS investigates the radon situation in own buildings

As part of a study, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) is investigating the radon situation at its own workplaces. The study aims to improve knowledge about the dispersion of radon, especially in large buildings, and to further develop the state of the art for measuring radon at the workplace. To this end, radon measurements are gradually being carried out at all BfS sites.

Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can enter buildings mainly from the ground – but also from building materials. If you breathe it in over a long time, it can cause lung cancer.

Voluntary measurements at the BfS

The BfS measurements are being carried out on a voluntary basis and independently of the designation of radon precautionary areas by the federal states. Employers in these areas must determine the radon concentration in the basements and on the ground floors of all workplaces. No BfS sites are located in such a radon precautionary area.

President of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, Dr Inge Paulini

"With the radon measurements in our own buildings, we are having the same experiences as employers who now have measurement obligations", explains BfS President Inge Paulini. "We want to use and share this first-hand experience in order to improve and, if possible, further simplify radon measurements at the workplace."

"As a specialist authority for radiation protection, we also see ourselves as having the special responsibility to provide our employees with information about the radon situation at their workplaces and – where necessary – protect them from radon", Paulini continues. "Locally elevated radon concentrations can also occur outside radon precautionary areas. If individual workplaces show radon levels that are too high, we will find solutions for the employees who are affected."

Study to provide findings for the further development of the radon guidelines

The BfS published its guideline for radon measurements at workplaces at the end of 2020. "We hope that the study will provide us with insights for a user-oriented further development of the guideline", adds Sebastian Feige, head of the Radon Metrology Section at the BfS. "We also want to find out more about how rooms in large buildings can be usefully grouped into areas so that measurements need only be taken in selected, representative rooms. To do this, we are also looking at floors without direct contact with the ground."

"We will also take a closer look at how the changing use of space as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting us", says Feige, referring to the current pandemic situation. At some workplaces, there is currently more ventilation. This can cause the measured values to be lower than during normal use. At other workplaces, the values could rise because the rooms are not used (or are used less) and therefore ventilated less.

Measurements with in-house measuring instruments

The BfS uses its own measuring instruments for the measurements, which are evaluated in in-house laboratories. In this way, the radiation protection authority does not compete with employers for the measuring capacities available on the market. The BfS regularly participates in international comparative measurements with its measuring instruments.

The first measurements have already started in summer 2020 at the BfS site Munich (Neuherberg). There, radon concentrations are measured at all workplaces, regardless of the floor. The one-year measurement period is divided into four quarterly measurements so that information about the seasonal change in radon concentrations can be obtained. In selected rooms, additional measurements are taken with electronic devices that determine the temporal course of the radon concentration.

Different locations form good starting conditions for the study

At the end of the one-year measurement period, employees and staff representatives will be informed about the results. Measurements at other BfS sites will begin this spring.

With its seven locations, the BfS offers good starting conditions for the study, which is intended to cover as wide a range of workplace and building types as possible:

• There are very different workplaces at the BfS. For example, offices, laboratories, workshops, and archives.
• The authority uses different types of buildings, which are of different ages and sizes.
• The BfS sites are located in different regions of Germany, where different geological and climatic conditions prevail.