Help for Homeowners in High Radon Areas

Shaded areas indicate counties targeted for 1995

What is the Minnesota Radon Project?

The Minnesota Radon Project is a nonprofit, public service organization conducting radon research and educational outreach programs. These efforts are supported by the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and the Minnesota Department of Health.

Why is my county targeted for radon study?

Your county has been identified as having "high" levels of indoor radon. A "high" radon level exceeds the EPA's action level of 4pCi/L. See the map below.

What is radon?

Radon is a radioactive gas generated by the decay of the uranium that occurs naturally in all soils. Unlike natural gas, you can't smell radon. In addition, radon's effects are not as immediate as carbon monoxide poisoning.

Is radon a health risk?

Radon can be a health risk. When you breathe air that contains high levels of radon, your chance of developing lung cancer increases.

Where am I being exposed to radon?

While radon is present everywhere, your home usually contains more radon than workspaces or outdoors.

How does radon get into my home?

Radon enters through the foundation or crawl space. Common entry points are sumps, drains, cement block basement walls and dirt crawl spaces.

Does my home have high radon?

The only way to know for sure is to test your home. The map below will give you a rough estimate of the indoor radon concentrations in your county. Keep in mind that high radon houses can be found anywhere in Minnesota. Contact the Minnesota Radon Project (1-800-820-3209) or the American Lung Association of Minnesota for a test kit.

Can anything be done about radon?

Indoor Radon Levels in Minnesota

Yes. Most Minnesotans can significantly reduce their radon exposure without spending large sums of money. Indoor Radon Levels in Minnesota The map shown above is based on over 30,000 homowner-made radon measurements. The blue, green, and black areas show where the average radon is expected to exceed the EPA action level. The accuracy of this map has been checked using scientific surveys in over 50 towns. Dr. Dan Steck, nuclear physicist and director of the Minnesota Radon Project, conducted these scientific surveys during the period 1983 to 1993. If you know the radon level in your home, please call us. We'd like to check your results against the prediction of this map. The EPA has also published a map that shows Minnesota with regions of high and moderate radon Their high radon potential counties roughly correspond to the darker areas on our map.

Scientific measurements show that:

Homes that exceed the EPA's recommended action level of 4pCi/L are found throughout Minnesota.
Approximately 40% of all Minnesota homes have living spaces above the action level.
Approximately 3% of all Minnesota homes have living spaces with higher radon levels that those allowed for uranium mines.
Homes have been found in Minnesota with radon levels 25 times higher than the EPA's action level.

How Can the Minnesota Radon Project Help Me?

The Minnesota Radon Project searches for homes with high indoor radon concentrations in order to help homeowners reduce their exposure to this serious radiation hazard. If you don't know your radon levels we can help you by testing your home. If you do know the radon levels in your home we can inform you on the implications of those levels and offer advice on actions you may be considering to respond to your levels.

If you want to measure the radon levels in your home, the Minnesota Radon Project will provide a free radon detector kit to the first twenty homeowners in each targeted county that contact us. If you are not one of the first twenty to call, we will have additional detector kits available at cost. When the postage-paid kit is returned, we analyze the detector and send you a confidential report detailing the results. We include information to help you interpret the results. After you receive your report, you can call our toll free number for assistance.

If you know the radon level in your home, we can help you to decide on a course of action. While the Minnesota Radon Project does not provide mitigation services, we can give you the names of contractors who have participated in the EPA's Radon Contractors Proficiency (RCP) program. If there are no RCP mitigators nearby we could serve as a liaison between a group of homeowners who want to mitigate and a RCP mitigator who is willing to travel to rural areas. We can also help homeowners who want to try to mitigate their homes themselves.

Any individual who wants radon information can call our toll free number. Any group who would like to hear and see a presentation on radon tailored to their group's interest, please contact Dr. Steck to make arrangements.

Radon: The Facts That Will Make You Take Action.

Radon is the largest source of radiation exposure for most Minnesotans.
All Minnesota homes contain radon. Some Minnesota homes contain more radon than allowed in uranium mines.
The US Environmental Protection Agency has called indoor radon the most deadly indoor pollutant and the second leading cause of lung cancer.
A lifetime's exposure to radon in many Minnesota homes significantly increases the risk of dying from lung cancer.
Radon travels only a few feet through the soil before it enters a home. Individual houses, neighborhoods, or entire towns can have radon problems.
Most Minnesotans can reduce their radon exposure simply and inexpensively.

Radon can be deadly--let the Minnesota Radon Project help make sure that you do not become one of its victims because you didn't know.

1995 Targeted Counties

Northwestern Minnesota

Norman
Mahnomen
Polk
Marshall
Kittson
Roseau
Northern St. Louis

Southwestern Minnesota

Rock
Nobles
Jackson
Murray
Pipestone
Lincoln
Lyon
Yellow Medicine

Information

The Minnesota Radon Project
1-800-820-3209 or
(320)-363-3186 or
e-mail: radon@csbsju.edu
http://www.physics.csbsju.edu/MNradon
Minnesota Department of Health
612-215-0909

American Lung Association of Minnesota
612-227-8014

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