Can i test my granite countertops for radiation.
Can granite countertops be radioactive.
In july 2008 news articles appearing in the new york times and the houston chronicle cast light upon a household toxin.
Some granite countertops have been found to give off trace amounts of radon and reporters cited a few kitchens with radon levels as high as 25 times the epa s safety limit of 4 picocuries per liter.
Some granite countertops may emit radon.
After all there are always exceptions to the rule.
Assuming a relatively tight house with an air change rate of 0 5 per hour h 1 and using average measured dose rates from granite countertop slabs the estimated radon concentration in kitchen air would be.
Radiation from granite countertops.
But the extent and significance of the problem is unknown.
Radiation concentrations can only be measured using sophisticated portable instruments or with laboratory equipment.
However keep in mind that avoiding granite countertops does not mean you avoid radiation or radon gas emissions in your home.
It does pay to find out for sure if there are harmful levels of radioactive elements in your granite countertops.
Can granite countertops be radioactive.
However allegations that granite countertops are radioactive and can emit radon gas are not new.
They have been raised periodically mostly by manufacturers and distributors of competing countertop materials as well as the manufacturers of radon detection devices.
The reports were about granite countertops that contain radium which can emit radon a radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer.
Inhaling the accumulated radon could give rise to small degree of radiation.
The question is whether they do so at levels that can impact cancer risk.
In addition to radon naturally occurring radioactive elements in the granite can emit small amounts of beta and gamma radiation.
At this time a generally accepted radiation testing protocol for countertops does not exist and neither imported nor domestic granite products require radiation testing.
Radon released from granite building materials can be released over the lifetime of use but typically will be diluted by ventilation.