The European Radon Week 2021 took place this year in Fribourg, Switzerland. It is arguably the most important event of the year for the radon community, as it includes European Radon Association (ERA) workshops alongside a focus on Radon Outcomes On Mitigation Solutions (ROOMS).
In Fribourg, the ERA’s workshops concentrated on international collaborations on radon. The event brings together researchers, experts, and industry representatives from around the world. The aim is to make issues such as air quality within buildings a global issue and one that is high on the agenda of many associations.
IAEA, UNSCEAR, WHO, ISIAQ, HERCA, ENA, EURADOS, the medical sector, CARST and the European Commission presented their recent work in the radon field to delegates. The panelist discussion was especially interesting. WHO stated that they are considering adapting the message “radon is the second main cause of lung cancer”. The discussion concluded that it would be better to state that radon is the leading cause of lung cancer after tobacco. It was widely accepted that this would be a recurring topic at future radon events.
The ROOMS meetings focused on the management of radon risk in buildings, methods and techniques implemented and results. Research findings and ongoing studies were shared among the community. The two days of workshops proved that, despite the pandemic, radon research continued and there was significant collaboration at both a national and international level.
At the end of the conference, Ingvild Finne (DSA, Norway) declared that the next ROOMS meeting will take place in Bergen, Norway, at the end of September 2022.
During the event, Radonova used its booth to show its Swiss and German customers new radon measurement solutions, ATMOS and Radtrak³, which will be approved for use in both of these countries very soon.
