New Radon Standard for New Home Construction Released During National Radon Action Month

Online, January 24, 2013 (Newswire.com) - The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), on January 11, 2013, approved a new building standard, RRNC 2.0, Reducing Radon in New Construction of 1 & 2 Family Dwellings and Townhouses. RRNC 2.0, a "Model Code" standard for the installation and testing of new construction radon systems, is a consensus standard developed by an American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists (AARST) National Radon Standards Consortium committee of radon professionals, builders, code officials, architects, consumer advocates, and state and federal government officials.

The purpose of this new AARST/ANSI standard is to further radon risk reduction in the United States by providing a model building code to achieve indoor radon concentrations of less than 4 pCi/L [148 Bq/m3] in new homes. It is a "code ready" standard that provides a significant improvement over the IRC Appendix F "Radon Control Methods."

"The new standard can eliminate the growing inventory of homes in the United States with elevated indoor radon and provide health benefits as a feature to buyers in new homes," says David Kapturowski, Chairman of AARST's RRNC 2.0 Standard Committee and Executive Vice President of Spruce Environmental Technologies, Inc.

The release of this new radon standard coincides with National Radon Action Month, during which the U.S. EPA urges all Americans to test their homes for radon and calls for advancement of the use of radon-resistant new construction practices.

Radon, which causes an estimated 21,000 deaths from lung cancer in the U.S. each year, can be present in any home, old or new. All homes should be tested for radon and fixed if the level of this radioactive gas is high.

The best way to prevent high radon levels from occurring in new homes is to install a new construction radon mitigation system during the building phase, particularly in areas with a high potential for radon, designated by the U.S. EPA's Zone Map as "Zone 1," and in moderate radon potential areas, or "Zone 2." However, EPA warns that even in the lowest potential areas homes can, and do, test high for radon and therefore recommends that all homes be tested.