RadioLab tra presente e futuro

Il progetto nazionale dell’INFN sul monitoraggio ambientale del radon ha coinvolto per oltre un decennio scuole su tutto il territorio nazionale. Recentemente, alcune attività hanno coinvolto molte sedi rafforzandone l’efficacia e l’impatto su studenti e insegnanti. Tra queste ricordiamo il sondaggio sulla conoscenza del radon, la scuola estiva nazionale e le attività di calibrazione con protocolli comuni. La pandemia ha interrotto bruscamente le attività in presenza e l’organizzazione scolastica post-lockdown richiede di ripensare alcune azioni per ampliare la diffusione della consapevolezza di questa problematica tra i cittadini, ora che il recepimento della normativa europea sul radon `e giunto a compimento

RadioLab project: knowledge of radon gas in Italy

AbstractRadioLab is an Italian project, addressed to school-age people, and designed for the dissemination of scientific culture on the theme of environmental radioactivity, with particular regards to the importance of knowledge of radon gas exposure. The project is a nationwide initiative promoted by the National Institute of Nuclear Physics- INFN. First tool used by the project, and of immediate impact to assess the public awareness on radon, is the administration of the survey “do you know the radon gas?”. In the survey, together with the knowledge of radon and of its sources, information on personal, cultural and territorial details regarding the interviewees are also taken. Reasonably, the survey invests not only young people, but also their relatives, school workers and, gradually, the public. The survey is administrated during exhibitions or outreach events devoted to schools, but also open to the public. The survey is in dual form: printed and online. The online mode clearly leads RadioLab project even outside the school environment. Based on the results of the survey, several statistical analyses have been performed and many conclusions are drawn about the knowledge of the population on the radon risk. The RadioLab benefit and the requirement to carry on the project goals, spreading awareness of environmental radioactivity from radon, emerge. The dataset involves all twenty Italian regions and consists of 28,612 entries covering the 5-year period 2018–2022