Radiation levels in thousands of Finnish bore wells exceed recommendations

Major radiation sources are carcinogens radon and uranium

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Some 30,000 to 50,000 people in Finland are daily exposed to radiation in excess of the acceptable levels, coming from bore wells. The majority of them live in the province of Uusimaa or elsewhere in Southern Finland.
      According to Senior Scientist Laina Salonen from the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland (STUK), there are around 15,000 such bore wells all over Finland where the level of radiation exceeds the recommended limit of 1,000 Bq for radon and 0.1 mg of uranium per one litre of water.
      The total number of bore wells in the country is estimated at 150,000, of which STUK has examined nearly 10,000.
     
Equipment for radiation reduction was launched on the market in the late 1990s. According to Laina Salonen, just 1,500 wells with a radiation problem have been equipped with radon or uranium reduction systems in the course of the past ten years.
      The most significant sources of radiation in Finnish well water are radon and uranium, while also polonium, radium, and radioactive lead can be found. All of these are highly carcinogenic radioactive elements. The most harmful of all is radon.
      One reason for the slow sales of such reduction equipment is lack of information. The owners simply do not know that their wells contain radioactive elements.
      Another reason could be the expenses caused by the system which many well owners regard as too high.
      "The municipal health inspectors have the main responsibility to spread information. However, only a small number of them participate in STUK's courses, which could be attributed to the acute shortage of money in the municipalities", Salonen assumes.
     
"Have your well water checked!" urges Päivi Kurttio, the Head of Laboratory at STUK. She says that typically people are very concerned about the health hazards of food, while not perceiving the threat caused by clear well water.
      In radiation monitoring assays, STUK has also found alarmingly high uranium levels in well water, namely up to over 12 mg of uranium per litre. In practice, a high level of radon also indicates an excessive level of uranium. Hence it is not enough to measure the level of radon alone.
     
One milligram of uranium per litre is estimated to cause an especially high risk of cancer death if a person is exposed to the element for 12 months. The risk posed by elevated levels of radon in drinking water - over 10,000 Bq per litre - is even greater.
      Kurttio stresses that it is possible to reduce radiation levels in well water. Radon reduction systems work, and by using such equipment, it is possible to decrease the risk of cancer significantly.
      The number of cancer deaths caused by radioactive elements in drinking water is estimated to be around 20 every year.
      The radiation found in bore well water is caused by the types of rock in the Finnish soil, the uranium content of which is above normal - in fact the highest in the world. The highest readings have been recorded in the granite areas of Southern Finland.


Links:
  The Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland (STUK)
  Radon (Wikipedia)

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