Radon. Mill Tailings and Mitigation.

I had my first experience with radon levels over the normal limit. It was scary. The house was in Colorado where there are a few Uranium mines. Apparently in the time period from 1940 to 1980 uranium mill taiings were given away free to the public to use for back fill, cement making, gardening, sand boxes for children and whatever other uses people could think of to do with the sand.

In 1970 the EPA figured out that this was dangerous and started a program to remediate the area. A free government program allowed any homeowner to have an  inspection to detect the presence of mill tailings. There were more than 100,000 notice sent to homeowners. 70,000 responded. The other 30,000 were not inspected. Any home or property that had dangerous levels of radiation was re-mediated. They dug out basements, scraped the soil from around homes, cleared lots and in general cleaned up all they could find. The other 30,000 homes are still out there radiating away. That is scary. The government program is no longer available. Home owners with radiation/mill tailings are on their own. A a Realtor our job is to protect the public from harm. In Colorado a mill tailing report is available from the county free of charge. The report is very detailed. Radiation levels are mapped out numerically. Each section of the property has a before and after report.

My buyers were given the mill tailing reports for the property along with the other standard disclosures. The report stated high levels around the garage and under the house. During inspection a radon detector was set. The radon report indicated radon levels of 14. The normal acceptable levels are 4.

My buyer cried. I wrote an inspection resolution amendment. Yesterday the county inspector came to inspect the ground. He was very informative. He explained that the radon produced Gamma Rays (very science fiction sounding) and these little guys are the dangerous parts that cause cancer. The ground the garage and the upstairs of the house were at acceptable levels. The pad on which the furnace sat was "hot". Remediation was a simple fix. Ventilate the air from the basement out side. It was not unreasonably expensive. All ended well.

The tailing reports I pull have thus far been negative but what about the 30,000 homes that were not inspected? My buyers will now be encouraged to have a radon test even if it is not "standard" in our area. I want my buyers protected.