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Temporal uncertainty versus coefficient of variation for rational regulation of indoor radon
Andrey Tsapalov1, Konstantin Kovler1
1National Building Research Institute - Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
Abstract:
Significant temporal variations of radon and other air pollutants can be observed in any room, even one with permanently closed windows and doors. Therefore, a question arises: how can one assess the conformity of a room with a normative and make a reliable decision if the test lasts <1 year (days or months)? The measurement protocol fundamentally differs between Europe with its long-term testing tradition lasting several months, and the US where short-term tests of several days are more common. Neither the European nor the American protocols considers the temporal uncertainty of indoor radon, a factor that usually exceeds the instrumental uncertainty (including in long-term tests) and is 2-3 times higher the coefficient of variation (COV) commonly used to estimate temporal variations. This problem significantly complicates the creation of a rational and harmonized ISO standard. At the same time, strict adhering to the fundamental ISO/IEC rules within such concepts as "measurement uncertainty" and "conformity assessment" allows to control the coverage probability or reliability of decision making. Within ISO/IEC, proposed are a criterion of conformity assessment of a room with a normative for both short- and long-term measurements, as well as a statistical algorithm for determining the temporal uncertainty considering mode and measurements duration.
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