Kingston University London

Radon and Health in the Natural and Built Environment

Radon research at Kingston University is carried out as part of a wider research group that specialises in radon and health issues in the natural and built environment. This research is partly focussed at health bodies to encourage the development of new strategies to reduce the dose to humans in such environments.

Examples of projects under this heading are:-

• Tidal Synchronicity: short term radon variation (and its impact on time average levels) and anomalies associated with Earthquakes.
• Radon, geology and seasonable variability
• Radon in abandoned mines and caves.
• International Geoscience Project (IGCP) 571, "Radon, health and natural hazards", UNESCO/IUGS

Publications

• Crockett, R.G.M., Gillmore, G.K., Phillips, P.S., Denman, A.R., Groves-Kirkby, C.J. 2006a. Radon Anomalies Preceding Earthquakes which occurred in the UK, in Summer and Autumn 2002. Science of the Total Environment, 364(1-3), 138-148.
• Crockett, R.G.M., Gillmore, G.K., Phillips, P.S., Denman, A.R., Groves-Kirkby, C.J. 2006b. Tidal Synchronicity of Atmospheric Radon Levels. Geophysical Research Letters, 33, LO5308, doi: 10.1029/2005GLO24950.
• Crockett, R.G.M., Gillmore, G.K., Phillips, P.S., Gilbertson, D.D. 2006. Tidal Synchronicity of the 26 December 2004 Boxing-Day Sumatran Earthquake and its Aftershocks. Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L19302, doi: 10.1029/2006GL027074.
• Gillmore, G.K., Phillips, P.S., Denman, A.R. 2005a. The effects of geology and the impact of seasonal correction factors on indoor radon levels: a case study approach. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 84(3), 469-479.
• Gillmore, G.K., Gilbertson, D., Grattan, J., Hunt, C., McLaren, S., Pyatt, B., mani Banda, R., Barker, G., Denman, A., Phillips, P. and Reynolds, T. 2005b. The potential risk from radon222 posed to archaeologists and earth scientists: reconnaissance study of radon concentrations, excavations and archaeological shelters in the Great Cave of Niah, Sarawak, Malaysia. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 60(2), 213-227.
• Gillmore, G.K., Grattan, J., Pyatt, F. B., Phillips, P.S. and Pearce, G. 2002. Radon, water and abandoned metalliferous mines in the UK: Environmental and Human Health implications. In: Merkel, B.J., Planer-Freidrich, B. and Woldersdorfer C. (Eds.) Uranium in the Aquatic Environment, Springer, 65-76.
• Gillmore, G.K., Phillips, P., Denman, A., Sperrin, M. and Pearce, G., 2001. Radon Levels in Abandoned Metalliferous mines, Devon, Southwest England, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 49, 281-292.
• Gratton, J., Gillmore, G.K., Gilbertson, D., Pyatt, F.B., Hunt, C.O., McLaren, S.J., Phillips, P.S. and Denman, A.R. 2004. Radon and "King Solomon's Miner's": Faynan Orefield, Jordanian Desert. Science of the Total Environment, 319, 99-113.
• Gillmore, G., Alizadeh Gharib, H., Denman, A, Phillips, P., Bridge, D., 2011. Radon concentrations in abandoned mines, Cumbria, UK: safety implications for industrial archaeologists. Natural Hazards and Earth System Science, 11, 1-8.
• Gillmore, G.K. , Crockett, R.G.M. , Przylibski, T. A. , 2010. IGCP Project 571: Radon, Health and Natural Hazards. Natural Hazards and Earth System Science, 10, 2051-2054.
• Crockett, R.G.M., Gillmore, G.K., 2010. Spectral-decomposition techniques for the identification of radon anomalies temporally associated with earthquakes occurring in the UK in 2002 and 2008. Natural Hazards and Earth System Science, 10, 1079-1084.
• Gillmore, G.K., Jabarivasal, N., 2010. A reconnaissance study of radon concentrations in Hamadan City, Iran. Natural Hazards and Earth System Science, 10, 857-863.
• Wertheim, D., Gillmore, G.K., Brown, L., Petford, N. 2010. 3-D imaging of particle tracks in solid state nuclear track detectors. Natural Hazards and Earth System Science, 10, 1033-1036.
• Wertheim, D., Gillmore, G.K., Brown, L., Petford, N. 2009. A new method of imaging particle tracks in Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors. Journal of Microscopy, 237, 1-6.
• Crockett, R.G.M., Gillmore, G.K., Phillips, P.S., Gilbertson, D.D. 2007. Reply to comment by Elizabeth S. Cochran and John E. Vidale on "Tidal synchronicity of the 26 December 004 Sumatran earthquake and its aftershocks". Geophysical Research Letters, 34, L04303, doi: 10.1029/2006GL028925.
• Denman, A.R., Crockett, R.G.M., Groves-Kirkby, C.J., Phillips, P.S., Gillmore, G.K., Woolridge, A.C. 2007. The value of Seasonal Correction Factors in assessing the health risk from domestic radon - A case study in Northamptonshire, UK. Environment International, 33, 34-44.
• Coskeran, T., Denman, A., Phillips, P., Gillmore, G., Tornberg, R. 2006. A new methodology for cost-effectiveness studies of domestic radon remediation programmes: Quality-adjusted life-years gained within Primary Care Trusts in Central England. Science of the Total Environment, 366(1), 32-46.

Further information/links

The Radon Council UK and the Radon Research group at Northampton University together with the Universities Radon Network are involved in the above projects. Further information on these groups can be found at www2.northampton.ac.uk/portal/page/portal/aps/appliedscience/research/radon and www.radoncouncil.org