Public policy considerations and the development of a code for the control of radon in residences

Building codes that address radon control in residential buildings are a relatively new development in the larger trend toward increased efforts to understand and control indoor air quality. A residential radon construction standard has been developed in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Northwest Residential Radon Standard (NRRS) seeks to provide a measured public policy response that is commensurate with current knowledge of both the health risk and the state of building science. This paper reviews the range of potential public policy responses available to deal with radon as a public health problem, describes the policy framework upon which the NRRS is structured, and explains the development process. Time and budget constraints limited the scope of the NRRS to identifying that minimum set of measures necessary to reliably achieve radon reductions without impairing structural integrity, capability to control other indoor air pollutants, occupant comfort, or energy efficiency. Though it looks more favorably at measures that enhance the linkages between durability, indoor air quality, and comfort; it does not require them unless they are part of the minimum set of requirements necessary for radon control. The NRRS, then, serves to provide a useful interim step toward the larger goal of a systemic approach