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Azerbaijan to learn radon diffusion

03 November 2010 14:12 (UTC +04:00)

Researchers of the Institute of Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland will conduct the research work within the project â€œRadon cadastre of Azerbaijan, radon diagnosis and minimization of its problemsâ€, he said.

Radon is a radioactive, colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas, occurring naturally as the decay product of uranium. It is one of the densest substances that remains a gas under normal conditions and is considered to be a health hazard due to its radioactivity. It is relatively common in the Earth’s crust, but generally concentrated in ore-bearing rocks scattered around the world, said Senior Fellow of the Institute of Geology Chingiz Aliyev.

Aliyev said radon threat has not been researched in Azerbaijan so far. According to the projects 2500 detectors will be installed throughout the country in November and the detectors will be collected in January, 2011 for laboratory analysis and after that a radon-dangerous areasâ€™ map will be drawn in 2012.

Expert of the University of Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland Claudio Valsangiacomo said above normal radon diffusion could cause lung cancer and 20 % of all oncologic diseases are caused by radon. It takes second place after the cigarettes in spreading of lung cancer.