It can be a problem round here too - the volunteer staff at Middleton Top engine house can only be present for a limited number of days a year due to Radon levels in the building, although they comment that none of the engine men when it was working are known to have died of lung cancer! Having said that though, I've also heard that lung cancer is more prevalent than it should be in men who worked at Ladywash mine..... 😞

https://beonhome.com/best-radon-detector/ 

It can be a problem round here too - the volunteer staff at Middleton Top engine house can only be present for a limited number of days a year due to Radon levels in the building, although they comment that none of the engine men when it was working are known to have died of lung cancer! Having said that though, I've also heard that lung cancer is more prevalent than it should be in men who worked at Ladywash mine..... 😞

Sunlight is by far a higher cancer risk than all the radon you ever get in contact with your entire life. But there are so many tools available to detect this radon gas levels. Do you ever tried any of those tools. if so let me know which one.

Yes sunlight does have a cancer risk - no sunlight less risk, but radon is weather independent so you could stay indoors all you life and die from it. Radon is now the second highest cause of cancer after smoking world wide. It is the third highest cause of death in the USA. It is a 1st category carcinogen like smoking. It is possible now to say that's if you were to die from cancer and smoked, it is possible to definitively say that it was caused by smoking. A team in Canada is working on the same markers for radon induced cancers. As an RPS and someone who has dealt with radon for the past 30 years, don't take the effects of high levels lightly. The effects may not be visible immediately but the changes it causes in your lungs are permanent. The sad thing is I've lost several friends to rare forms of lung cancer which have been attributed to exposure to high levels or radon. Don't think for one minute that all the radon in the uk is found in Cornwall, just look carefully at the radon map of the U.K. And you will find it is found everywhere. don't die of ignorance. there are plenty of detectors out there, and if anyone wants to have a PM with about radon, I am quite happy to chat.

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BCA produced a document on Radon, it's worth a read. Includes a section on qualifying the risk of exposure.

We've set up a working group to look at it in relation to the changes in regs that came into effect last year. As a part of this we've manage to secure some funding from various sources to place some radon monitors around a number of sites in the UK, the data from which will be shared so people can at least make an educated decision as to exposing themselves to Radon underground.

When we did some testing a few years back we ended up with a spare meter somehow which sat on my desk and came back higher than many of the mines we use!!

As a very general interpretation of what we recorded the metal mines had significantly more radon than the slate. Levels were higher in the Summer compared to Winter; so if it's something that concerns you leave the metal mines for cold days!!

http://british-caving.org.uk/wiki3/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=publications_information:bca_radon_underground_2nd_ed.pdf 

Also - The "Albertstanley" comment reads to me as spam.

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It is good to see that people are monitoring this invisible hazard and the BCA and others are taking this seriously. The more readings that are taken, the better understanding there is of the magnitude of levels of radon any particular sites and at particular times of the year.

If the figures in Bq/m3 are less than 400, that is certainly a good thing. Experience in Cornwall dictates that this figure (400Bq/m3) would be good, but is rarely achievable except with forced mechanical ventilation (Fans). One location the figures were more like 150,000 Bq/m3 during the summer months and figures of over 1000 Bq/m3 are not uncommon.

Working mines do keep good records by law, and various adits in the Camborne/Redruth district have been monitored with some interestingly high readings !

Experience also shows that summer months have significantly higher readings than winter months usually by over a factor of 10. Why this is, the jury is still out.

The formula that is used in the document dose (mSv) = Hrs * activity (Bq/m3) * 2*F / 254000 where F is the equilibirum factor. In some mines where F can be measured a value of 0.5 has achieved.

To put some figures into perspective

At 1hr @ 10,000 Bq/m3 = 0.04mSv
At 1hr @ 50,000 Bq/m3 = 0.2mSv

So it doesn't take long before you reach the 1mSv, especially at the higher rate which I believe is not uncommon in some Cornish mines.

If you are a professional or someone who works in an enriched radon atmosphere ie greater than 400Bq/m3 and you dose starts to reach above 6mSv for the calendar year, all sorts health monitoring will start.

But like lots of things, as you are doing this for a hobby and not being paid, then we all accept the risk...

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