Radon Testing Protocol

Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas without color, odor, or taste that comes from the natural breakdown of uranium in soil, rocks, and water.  Gettysburg College is among many areas throughout the region that sit on a geologic formation called the Reading Prong, which underlies southeastern Pennsylvania and parts of New Jersey, and has an elevated uranium content.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates the average indoor radon level is about 1.3 pCi/L, and has set guidelines that recommend limiting residential levels to 4 pCi/L.

Gettysburg College contracted with Dade Moeller & Associates, a firm specializing in occupational and environmental health, to develop a procedure for measuring radon levels in all its academic, administrative, and residential buildings.   Tested areas typically will not include stairways, hallways, storage rooms, closets, equipment rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, or buildings undergoing renovation (buildings should be tested prior to and following renovation).  Tested areas will include but not be limited to:  offices, student rooms, classrooms, laundry areas, and social spaces that are occupied for more than 2 hours per week. 

Building occupants will be notified in advance of the test schedule for their building and provided guidelines for testing including requests that the charcoal canisters or alpha detectors that measure the radon not be disturbed.  Test results and possible mitigation procedures will be communicated to building occupants after they are analyzed.  A regular schedule of radon testing will be conducted every 10 years unless mitigation has been performed in which case testing will be conducted every 5 years  as a periodic check of any implemented radon reduction measures.  

The EPA Guidelines for Radon Measurement in Schools is the basis for testing at Gettysburg College.

• If initial testing using charcoal canisters indicates the presence of levels between 4 and 10 picoCuries/Liter (pCi/L) in any space, then alpha track detectors will be placed in the same locations for periods of 3 to 6 months. If this testing confirms the presence of radon levels greater than 4 pCi/L, plans will be made to mitigate radon levels in the building to 4 pCi/L or less.
• If initial testing using charcoal canisters indicates the presence of levels greater than 10 pCi/L, then a second round of charcoal canister testing will be performed. If this second round of testing confirms levels greater than 10 pCi/L, plans will be made to mitigate radon levels in the building to 4 pCi/L or less.
• Whenever mitigation is performed, follow-up testing with charcoal canisters will be performed to determine whether the mitigation was successful in reducing levels to 4 pCi/L or less.

If mitigation is necessary, the College will hire a certified radon mitigator, to put mitigation procedures in place to ensure that measurements in these areas fall within the EPA guidelines for radon levels.   Mitigation techniques in areas with elevated levels include installation of exhaust systems to vent the air to the outside, sealing cracks in building foundations, and installing sub-slab ventilation systems to vent the radon gas, which typically moves up through the ground through cracks and other holes in the foundation.