The Radon Program at Mound & Radon Today

MOUND MUSEUM LECTURE SERIES SPOTLIGHTS

THE RADON PROGRAM AT MOUND & RADON TODAY — The Mound Science and Energy Museum (MSEM) is pleased to announce that on Aug. 27, 2014, Phillip H. Jenkins, PhD, CHP Bowser-Morner, Inc., will discuss “The Radon Program at Mound & Radon Today”, as part of MSEM’s monthly Wednesday Night Presentation Series. The talk includes an overview of the Radon Program at Mound during the 1980’s sites that were monitored for DOE’s remedial action programs (UMTRA and FUSRAP) in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Colorado and Oregon; monitoring & measurements made at DOE’s Fernald site; and radon issues at Mound. As part of the Radon Program, a radon chamber was built for calibrating Mound’s instruments. This chamber was likely the first that included temperature and humidity control. The work for DOE ended in 1986. At that time elevated radon in homes and other buildings were being found, and companies were coming into existence for monitoring and mitigating radon in nonoccupational settings. For a few years, the chamber at Mound was used for exposures of radon measurement devices for private companies for calibration and QA testing, as well as R&D for some manufacturers. The chamber operation ended in 1989 when the chamber was destroyed due to a mishap, which will be described briefly.

Phil left Mound in 1991 and created the Radon Reference Laboratory at Bowser-Morner, Inc., which he will describe. Since that time all of the radon chambers in the federal government have closed making the chamber at Bowser-Morner a vital asset to the radon measurement industry in the US and Canada. Some general information about radon will be discussed, including the need for everyone to test their homes and mitigate elevated concentrations of radon; the state of the “radon industry” today, radon standards that are being promulgated, and radon organizations such as the American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists, the National Radon Proficiency Program and Cancer Survivors Against Radon. PHILLIP H. JENKINS received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1970, an M.S. in Bionucleonics in 1972 and a Ph.D. in Bionucleonics in 1975, all from Purdue University. From 1975 to 1978, Phil was a Sr. Health Physicist at the Tennessee Valley Authority in Muscle Shoals, AL. From 1978 to 1991, he held several positions in the Environmental Section of EG&G Mound Applied Technologies (previously known as Monsanto Research Corp.). From 1991 to 2006, Phil was the Director, Radiological Services Division of Bowser-Morner, Inc., Dayton, Ohio. Phil’s current job title at Bowser-Morner is Sr. Health Physicist; he is still responsible for the technical oversight of the radon reference facility, but now is focusing on standards, continuing education and quality assurance documentation.

This presentation will occur on Wed., Aug. 27, 2014, at 7:00 PM at the Mound Science & Energy Museum, 1075 Mound Rd., Miamisburg, Oh. 45342. Program is free and is open to the public. Visit MSEM’s web site, http://www.moundmuseum.com for a map showing the location of the Museum. For further information, please call the Museum at (937) 353-4457.

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