Historical urban centers built in tuff and indoor radon exposure

Simona Mancini, Serpil Aközcan Pehlivanoğlu, Natasa Todorovic, Albina Cuomo, Domenico Guida, Michele Guida

Abstract

Several historical urban centers in Italy are renowned for being built into tuff, a porous volcanic rock rich in radionuclides contents. Tuff is among the building materials, counted in the Annex II of the European Directive 59/2013/Euratom, implemented in Italy by Legislative Decree 101/2020, that are subject to the control of the content of natural radionuclides. If threshold levels are exceeded, measures to limit the exposure of the population should be adopted. In historical buildings, tuff can constitute an important secondary source of radon, after soil, in the indoor environment, contributing to its accumulation till levels dangerous for human health. Aim of the study is to analyze the contribution of radon exhalation from walls in tuff which, in some cases, can be the main source. So, an analysis of the fluctuations and accumulation in the indoor environment according to different ventilation rates has been performed in a flat of an old historical building made in tuff located in the old city center of Salerno, as a case study.

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IMEKO-Metroarchaeo-2025-033.pdf

DOI

10.21014/tc26-2025.033

IMEKO TC

TC26 - Metrology for Cultural Heritage

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