The HAZWRAP/Navy Radon Project

In 1987, the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFACENGCOM) was assigned the responsibility of identifying potential hazards from exposure to naturally occurring indoor radon to personnel in Naval facilities and prioritizing corrective actions. In response to this request, NAVFACENGCOM established the Navy Radon Assessment and Mitigation Program (NAVRAMP), which evaluates problems associated with radon levels above current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-guidelines (EPA-520/1-86-04) of 4pCi/L. NAVRAMP consists of four phases: screening, assessment, mitigation, and postmitigation. Approximately 300,000 alpha track detectors (ATDs) will be used during the screening and assessment phases. Several unique approaches were developed to verify the quality of the information collected during this large program. To guarantee chain-of-custody, a computerized data management system was developed to track each ATD from initial purchase through field implementation to final analysis and was also used to track and identify quality control (QC) problems related to the manufacture and analysis of ATDs. The QC program addressed potential problems that could occur using ATDs. The potential errors associated with the use of ATDs included (1) lot-to-lot variation, (2) chemical process variation, (3) pouch leakage, and (4) background. The data management and QC programs ensured the quality and integrity of the samples, the accuracy and precision of the analyses, the representatives of the results, and the completeness of the information