Lung Cancer Attributable to Indoor Radon Exposures in Two Radon—Prone Areas, Ştei (Romania) and Torrelodones (Spain) Available to Purchase

Radon and radon progeny are present indoors, in houses and others dwellings, representing the most important contribution to dose from natural sources of radiation. Most studies have demonstrated an increased risk of lung cancer at high concentration of radon for both smokers and nonsmokers. For medium and low concentrations which are the typical residential radon levels, recent researches have also demonstrated increased risks of lung cancer for people exposed. The work presents a comparative analysis of the radon exposure data in the two radon—prone areas, Ştei, Transylvania, (Romania), in the near of old Romanian uranium mines and in the granitic area of Torrelodones town, Sierra de Guadarrama (Spain). One important difference between the two studied areas is related to the houses built using uranium waste as construction material in Ştei area. Measurements of indoor radon were performed in 280 dwellings (Romania) and 91 dwellings (Spain) by using nuclear track detectors, CR 39. The highest value measured in Ştei area was $2650 Bq⋅m−3.$ and $366 Bq⋅m−3$ in the Spanish region. The results are compute with the BEIR VI report estimates using the age‐duration model at an exposure rate below $2650 Bq⋅m−3.$ A total of 233 lung cancer deaths were calculated in the Ştei area for a period of 13 years (1994–2006), which is 116.82% higher than observed from the national statistics. In comparison, in Torrelodones area, a number of 276 deaths caused by lung cancer were estimated along a period of 13 years, which is 2.09 times higher than the number observed by authorities. This represents a significantly evidence that elevated risk can strongly be associated with cumulated radon exposure.