Evaluation of indoor radon measurements in Hungary

The RAD Laboratory measured annual means of radon activity concentrations in 15 277 first-floor rooms of dwellings and in 325 rooms on upper floors in Hungary (1994-2004). The original purpose of the survey was to find radon-prone area in Hungary. The maximum measured value was 5800 Bq m(-3), while the minimum was 10 Bq m(-3). Due to geological diversity and different structures of buildings, the data set of first-floor rooms did not follow the lognormal distribution. Therefore, strata were chosen so that the measured data fitted the lognormal distribution. The numbers of dwellings above a given radon level were determined in each stratum. The national distribution was then taken as the sum of the individual distributions of all strata. This distribution was not lognormal. The parameters of the best fitting lognormal distribution were GM = 58 Bq m(-3), GSD = 2.2. The weighted averages of strata values GM = 62 Bq m(-3), GSD=2.1 were obtained corresponding to 92% of Hungarian dwellings.