Yukoners urged to test for radon gas as home testing exceeds worldwide average

Yukoners are being urged to test their homes for radon — a radioactive gas which has a somewhat mysterious prevalence in the territory. 

The colourless, odourless, invisible gas is created by the breakdown of uranium in the ground and as November marks radon awareness month, Health Canada is encouraging the use of home testing kits. 

While it often goes undetected, radon is the number one cause of lung cancer for non-smokers, Yukon Lung Association President Doug MacLean said — accounting for 16 per cent of all cancer deaths in Canada.  

MacLean was involved in a survey of 232 residential homes across Whitehorse, published in the Journal of Radiological Protection earlier this year. 

The survey said some residents could be inhaling up to 40 times that worldwide average of radon per year. In more than a third of the homes surveyed, radon levels exceeded the Health Canada guideline of 200 becquerels per cubic metre — a unit that measures radioactivity.

"We did find that radon is prevalent in parts of the Yukon due to the local geology, and apparently it also depends on how your house is built," MacLean explained.

"Even when your neighbours have low readings, the readings in your home can be high."

The Yukon is among the four provinces and territories which have the highest prevalence of radon in homes, along with Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick.

Health Canada spokesperson Madison Pecoskie said for that reason, it was very important to test. 

Home testing kits are available from hardware stores and online from Health Canada.

Pecoskie said long-term testing is recommended for a minimum of three months. 

If  testing shows over 200 becquerel per cubic meter in your home, Pecoskie says Health Canada recommends mitigation.

She said professionals from the the Canadian national radon proficiency program would be able to carry out "active soil depressurization".

"Basically what they do is they'll come into your home, they'll come into your basement, they'll drill into the slab and they put a pipe in and they attach a fan to the pipe," Pecoskie said. "And then the pipe goes out the side of your home and the radon is kind of sucked out. And once the radon gas is outside, it dissipates once it's mixed with fresh air, to safe levels."

In the Yukon, homeowners can apply for funding for that mitigation under the Yukon Housing Corporation Home Repair program.

"We don't fully understand the sources" 

Geologists are continuing to probe the origins of radon in the Yukon, to understand why it accumulates in certain areas. 

Associate Professor in the earth sciences program at Yukon University Joel Cubley said it was part of "a complex geological system." 

"We don't fully understand the sources and the contributions coming from different geologic options, if you will."

He said radon is drawn out of the soil that surrounds people's basements and essentially "migrates" through cracks in the foundation.

But there are different theories as to how it gets into the soil in the first place.

"Whitehorse has diverse geology both in terms of its surficial and its bedrock geology and there's a number of potential sources for the radon."

He said there were studies underway in Whitehorse to get a clearer picture, including a collaboration between Yukon Government Water Resources, the University of Saskatchewan, Yukon University and the City of Whitehorse.