Radon exposure vs. exposure to other sources of ionising radiation.

The purpose of this contribution is to situate the radon issue within the whole field of radiation protection. There is among health physicists a fairly general consensus that exposure to radon decay products constitutes the largest and most variable contribution to the population exposure. It is therefore ironical that precisely this exposure is the subject of constant disputes with regard to the validity of the risk estimates and to the desirability of inciting the population living in radon prone areas to take action. At the forefront of the discussion is the different perception of the radon risk by the population but also by many experts. The apathy for the radon risk has to do with the nature of the risk: