Pennsylvania Code › Title 25 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Part I - Department of Environmental Protection › Subpart D - Environmental Health and Safety › Article V - Radiological Health › Chapter 240 - RADON CERTIFICATION › Subchapter A - GENERAL PROVISIONS › GENERAL › Section 240.3 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this
							 chapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
							 otherwise:
AC-Activated charcoal
-A device used
							 to measure radon by exposing activated charcoal to air in the area to be tested
							 and analyzed by gamma ray spectroscopy.
AT-Alpha track
-A device used to
							 measure radon by recording alpha particle tracks on a plastic chip.
Act
-The Radon Certification Act
							 (63
							 P.S. §§
														2001-2014).
Active radon mitigation system
-A
							 radon mitigation system with an electric vent fan.
Acts
-The Radon Certification Act and
							 the Radiation Protection Act (35 P.S. §§
														7110.101-7110.703).
Alteration
-A change to the original
							 mitigation system design, including fan size, number or placement of suction
							 points, or pipe diameter.
CRM
-
Continuous radon
							 monitor
-An active device used to measure radon with solid state
							 silicon surface barrier detectors, scintillation cells or ion chambers, usually
							 on an hourly basis.
CWLM
-
Continuous working
							 level monitor
-An active device used to measure radon decay products,
							 usually on an hourly basis.
Calibration
-The process of
							 determining the response of an instrument (or measurement system) to a series
							 of known values over the range of the instrument (or measurement
							 system).
Certification year
-Each 12-month
							 period beginning with the most recent certification date of the certified
							 individual.
Certified individual
-An individual
							 with a Department certification to perform radon testing, mitigation or
							 laboratory analysis in this Commonwealth.
Client
-A receiver of services that
							 are regulated under the Act or this chapter.
Control limit
-A QC value set at
							 ±3 sigma.
Diagnostic test
-A test performed to
							 determine specific radon entry points and sources, the result of which is not
							 reported to the Department or in writing to the client.
Duplicate measurements
-Two
							 measurements made concurrently, for the same time period and in the same
							 location, approximately 4 inches from one another.
Electret ion chamber
-A radon
							 measurement device that consists of a small plastic container with an
							 electrostatically charged disk inside to serve as a detector.
Electret reader
-A radon measurement
							 device that consists of a voltmeter used to measure the voltage on the
							 electrostatically charged disk of an electret ion chamber testing device at the
							 beginning and end of a test period.
Electret voltage drift
-A QC process
							 which evaluates the voltage drift of each new batch of electrets received from
							 the manufacturer of the electrets.
Field blank
-A QC measurement made by
							 analyzing unexposed (closed) detectors that have been maintained in a low-radon
							 environment to assess radon exposure to the detector from a source other than
							 the concentration in the environment to be measured.
Firm
-A Department-certified entity
							 that has at least one certified individual in responsible charge of the
							 entity's testing, mitigation or laboratory radon activities. A business, such
							 as a corporation or limited liability company, may contain more than one
							 firm.
Firm employee
-A Department-listed
							 radon testing, mitigation or laboratory employee under the responsible charge
							 of a certified individual.
Firm owner
-A person or business
							 entity which owns and is responsible for the radon firm.
LS-Liquid scintillation
-A device
							 used to measure radon by exposing a small amount of activated charcoal
							 contained within a small vial and placed in the area to be sampled and analyzed
							 in a liquid scintillation counter.
Laboratory
-A Department-certified
							 individual or firm.
Laboratory analysis
-The act of
							 analyzing a radon test device and calculating a radon concentration in air or
							 water.
Lowest livable level
-The lowest
							 level of a building that may be used as a living space without requiring any
							 major structural changes.
MV-Measured value
-The radon
							 concentration reported by the analyst, in units of picocuries per liter or WLs.
Measurement
-A radon or radon decay
							 product test result used for the performance of quality assurance, including a
							 spike, blank, duplicate, intercomparison or cross check.
Mitigate
-To repair or alter a
							 building or building design for the purpose in whole or in part of reducing the
							 concentration of radon in the indoor atmosphere.
Mitigator
-A Department-certified
							 individual or a Department-listed mitigation employee of a Department-certified
							 mitigation firm.
Multifamily building
-A building with
							 more than three attached dwellings.
Nonreported test
-A test conducted
							 for reasons other than reporting valid, written results to the client, such as
							 a diagnostic test.
pCi/L-Picocurie per liter
-2.22
							 disintegrations per minute of radioactive material per liter of air.
Passive radon mitigation system
-A
							 radon mitigation system without an electric vent fan.
Person
-An individual, corporation,
							 partnership, business entity, association, trust, estate, public or private
							 institution, group, agency or political subdivision of this Commonwealth,
							 another state or political subdivision or agency thereof, and a legal
							 successor, representative, agency or agency of the entities in this
							 definition.
Primary device
-Continuous monitors
							 or electret ion chambers, or both, read or analyzed, or both, by a primary
							 tester.
Primary tester
-A tester who reads or
							 analyzes, or both, a primary device that the tester places or retrieves, or
							 both.
QA-Quality assurance
-The activities
							 required to provide the evidences needed to establish confidence that radon
							 test data are of the required precision and accuracy.
QC-Quality control
-The process
							 through which a person measures performance, compares performance with
							 standards and acts on any differences.
RPD-Relative percent difference
-The
							 absolute value of the difference between two measurements divided by their
							 average, multiplied by 100. The equation is:
RPD={(|MV1-MV2|)/(MV1+MV2)/2}
							 x 100.
RPE-Relative percent error
-The
							 measured value (pCi/L) minus the RV (pCi/L), divided by the RV, multiplied by
							 100. The equation is:
RPE = {(MV-RV)/RV} x 100.
RV-Reference value
-The known radon
							 concentration value, in units of picocuries per liter or WL, to which a test
							 device is exposed.
Radon
-The radioactive noble gas
							 radon-222 and the short-lived radionuclides which are products of radon-222
							 decay, including polonium-218, lead-214, bismuth-214 and polonium-214.
Secondary device
-A radon test device
							 that is analyzed by a Department-certified laboratory.
Secondary tester
-A tester who places
							 or retrieves, or both, a radon test device that is analyzed by a
							 Department-certified laboratory.
Sigma level
-A sample standard
							 deviation around a mean, which is a measure of the scatter of data around a
							 mean. The term is often described as 1, 2 or 3 sigma, corresponding to one, two
							 or three standard deviations around the mean.
Spiked measurement or spike
-A
							 quality control measurement conducted in an approved chamber to evaluate
							 accuracy by exposing the detector or device to a known concentration and
							 submitted for analysis.
Test
-The act of measuring for the
							 presence of radon in a building's air or water supply.
Tester
-A Department-certified
							 individual or a Department-listed testing employee of a Department-certified
							 testing firm.
WL-Working level
-Any combination of
							 short-lived radon progeny (for radon-222: polonium-218, lead-214, bismuth-214
							 and polonium-214; and for radon-220: polonium-216, lead-212, bismuth-212 and
							 polonium-212) in 1 liter of air that will result in the ultimate emission of
							 1.3 x 105 MeV of alpha particle energy.
WLM-Working level month
-The
							 cumulative exposure from breathing in an atmosphere at a concentration of 1 WL
							 for a working month of 170 hours.
WLM/yr-Working level month per
							 year
-The cumulative exposure incurred over 1 year (2,040 hours) from
							 breathing in an atmosphere at a concentration of 1 WL for a working month of
							 170 hours.
Warning level
-A QC value set at
							 ±2 sigma.
The provisions of this §
															240.3 amended under sections 301,
								302 and 401 of the Radiation Protection Act (35 P.S. §§
																7110.301,
								7110.302 and
								7110.401); section 1920-A of
								The Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P.S. §
																510-10); and sections 8, 12 and 13 of the
								Radon Certification Act (63 P.S. §§
																2008,
								2012 and
								2013).