Is Occupational Exposure to Radon Comparable to Residential Exposure?
Because questions have been raised about the appropriateness of using the epidemiological studies of underground miners as a basis for estimating the risk radon poses to the general population, the EPA commissioned the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to investigate the difference between underground miners and members of the general public in the doses they receive per unit exposure due to inhaled radon progeny. The NAS report, published in 1991 (National Academy of Sciences, 1991, Comparative Dosimetry of Radon in Mines and Homes. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.), concluded that it is reasonable to extrapolate from the miner data to a residential situation, but that the effective doses per unit of exposure for people in their homes is approximately thirty percent (30%) less than for the miners. In its analysis, NAS considered variables such as the amount and type of dust to which the radon decay particles would attach, the breathing rate of working miners compared to that
