The study of some common plaster coating materials and plastic foils as a barrier to radon

The effect of plastering and coating a radon active rock specimen with the coating materials, viz. mud, cement, lime and paints on its radon exhalation rate is reported. Plastering the rock surface with mud has been found to increase the radon exhalation. However, the plaster coating of cement and lime reduces the radon exhalation by about 15%. The study reveals that by proper choice of paints and applying them directly on the emanating media, radon exhalation reduction of the order of 25% can be achieved. A variety of plastic foils have also been studied in the laboratory for testing their ability to impede radon gas. Most of the foils have been found to attenuate radon to an appreciable extent (79-94%). A high-density polyethylene foil of 235μm thickness has been found to reduce radon by 94% and is thus an effective barrier for radon gas emanation