Radon – Enköping municipality

Radon is a radioactive gas that can be found in the soil, drinking water or in the building materials of the house. As a homeowner, you should check if there is radon in the house.

You take the sample yourself and send it in to the analysis company. You pay the cost of the analysis to the analysis company.

When you measure the indoor air, it is important to measure the level for at least two months during the period October to April.

There are two ways to measure radon levels: short-term measurement and long-term measurement. You can do a short-term measurement at any time during the year for 7–10 days. You must do a long-term measurement during the period October to April and for at least two months.

Short-term or rapid measurement is practical when you need an indication of the radon levels, for example when you are buying or selling a house. A long-term measurement shows the annual average value in your home.

Contact the municipality’s contact center and we will help you order measuring boxes. You can also order measuring boxes yourself directly from a measuring laboratory. Swedac has a register of accredited companies that measure radon in indoor air and from which you can order measuring boxes.

The Radiation Safety Authority recommends that you do a radon measurement:

• if a measurement has never taken place or if more than ten years have passed since the last measurement.
• after a renovation of the home. Sometimes there can be small cracks in the foundation where radon gas can penetrate from the ground.
• if the home or property is built with blue concrete. Blue concrete can cause extra high levels of radon in the indoor air.
• if previous measurement showed high levels and you have taken measures to lower the radon level.

If the test result shows elevated levels of radon, you need to find out the cause. You can take help from a consultant who has specialist skills in the field. The consultant will advise you on appropriate measures depending on where the radon is coming from. On the Swedish Radon Association’s website there is a list of consultants, but the list is not complete as only the association’s members and other course participants who pay an annual fee are on the list.

You who own and live permanently in a one- or two-family house where the radon content in the indoor air exceeds 200 becquerels have previously been able to apply for a government grant to remediate. It doesn’t work anymore.

Radon is a radioactive gas that occurs naturally in the ground. It can also occur in building materials, mainly blue concrete. Blue concrete was produced and used as a building material in houses from 1929 until 1975. Long-term exposure to radon increases the risk of lung cancer. The risk is greater the higher the radon concentration in the air.

If you are looking for a protocol from a radon measurement, you should first contact the property owner or the company that performed the measurement. The property owner always receives the protocol in the original. You can also try contacting the municipality. If the radon measurement is ordered via the municipality, we sometimes receive a copy of the protocol. We may have minutes saved from 2014 onwards.