JURAD-BAT, a Suisse-France Interreg Project (2016-2019) to raise awareness about radon gas health risk and provide tools designed to answer different publics

A joint presentation by Céline de Potter Longchamp, scientific collaborator and Joëlle Goyette Pernot, Professor at the TRANSFORM Institute, School of Engineering and Architecture of Fribourg, Switzerland (HEIA-FR) about the JURAD-BAT Interreg project.

The aim of the JURAD-BAT Interreg project is to promote the pooling and sharing of experience and competencies, as well as training professionals in the area of radon risk management, through a trans-border web platform.

Radon is a natural radioactive gas present everywhere in the earth's crust. It may cause lung cancer (WHO, 2009). In Switzerland, it is the second cause of lung cancer after smoking and 200 to 300 deaths per year are attributed to it. By improving specific knowledge linked to presence of radon gas in the karstic Jura Mountains, the JURAD-BAT Interreg project aims at enhancing general awareness about this public health problem.

But radon is a problem mainly linked to building. In order to deal with radon health risk in buildings, professionals need to access to tools that will help them to understand the physical and constructive conditions that reinforce radon accumulation inside. They need to know how to deal with this risk in new and existing buildings. By the same time, local collectivities have to know how to answer questions of the population, apply the regulation and take good decisions to protect people in public buildings like schools for example. The main deliverable of the project is a trans-border web platform designed like a toolbox. It will It will serve as a decision-making tool and is specifically oriented towards radon problematic in the indoor air quality context largely impacted by the energy retrofitting actions in buildings.

The Smart Living Lunches take place once a month from 11 am to 1 pm in Fribourg to present the research activities of the Smart Living Lab. A lunch is served after the presentation. These events are designed for the Smart Living Lab's community.