The Rocky Mountain Range is a wonder of nature, thrust into being over a 25-million-year orogeny (period of mountain-building) which began approximately 80-million years ago, it’s the product of the North American tectonic plate being forced under the mid-ocean Farallon plate.

To visualize how this collision could cause mountains to rise in the middle of the terrestrial plate, imagine trying to shove one area rug under the other. As pressure builds and is interrupted by friction, the rugs will buckle and roll more toward the mid-point than where they meet.

Millions of years of growth, glaciation and erosion shaped the majestic mountains that define the modern Rocky Mountain range. An amalgam of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rock, the stunning beauty of our mountains is laden with a heavy metallic element that dominated the atomic age.

Uranium was first discovered and its radioactive properties identified by Marie and Pierre Currie in the early 1900’s. They won two Nobel Prizes for their discoveries, one in physics and one in chemistry. Marie Currie famously died of complications of radiation poisoning. Her husband likely would have suffered the same fate had he not slipped while crossing a road in the rain and been run over by a horse drawn carriage.

Curiously, Currie’s remains and notebooks remain dangerously radioactive to this day and are stored in lead-lined boxes. In the span of her lifetime, Currie was able to discover both the mechanism of radioactivity and its lethality.

The Colorado Rockies contain significant amounts of uranium, particularly in granite found throughout the state and carnotite sandstone along the Colorado Plateau. During the Atomic Age, uranium mining was rampant in the state. And though it is no longer actively mined, claims are still held by companies who aspire to revive production should demand return.

As uranium breaks down, it first becomes radium, and then it further breaks down to the radioactive gas, radon which is constantly seeping up through the rocks and soil. Radon gas in nature poses no significant risk to human health as it is rapidly dissipated into the atmosphere. But radon gas behaves differently indoors.

Radon can be substantially diverted from the ground up with materials as simple as well sealed plastic sheeting encapsulating an exposed foundation like a crawl space. But at the same time, radon molecules that manage to find their way inside through pipes, pressure changes, and cracks or gaps in a foundation can be trapped there just as easily by the same materials designed to keep water and wind out. This can lead to unsafe concentrations of radon indoors.

How unsafe? Radon gas causes cancer. It is the second leading cause of lung cancer (behind smoking) and is responsible for an estimated 21,000 lung cancer deaths in the US each year. The

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry also links radon exposure to an increased risk of pulmonary fibrosis, emphysema, and chronic interstitial pneumonia.

Radon levels are considered “unsafe” when they are at 4.0 picocuries per liter or higher. According to the EPA, consistent exposure to 4.0 picocuries of radon is the equivalent of smoking eight cigarettes a day or having 200 chest x-rays in a year. The gas itself is odorless and colorless, and without testing and monitoring, there will be no signs or symptoms to alert you to the damage being done to your body.

“Because radon seeps out of our soil and bedrock, and because it is sensitive to atmospheric pressure, the higher you go, the more urgency there is to check your home for radon,” Chris Bradley of Peak Radon in Divide said. “A majority of unmitigated houses in Teller will test above 4.0. Our area is classified as a red zone for radon risk, and I’ve seen houses test in the 100’s and 200’s.”

When it comes to radon, ignorance is not bliss. The only way to know your risk is to test. Because the EPA lists Colorado as a Zone 1 state, meaning homes are likely to exceed safe radon levels, there are numerous sources for free and discounted radon test kits.

Kits can be obtained from the Centennial Building in Cripple Creek, the Teller County CSU Extension, the Building Department and the Public Health Department. Test kits can also be ordered online through the State Health Department. Kits offered through these programs include shipping and laboratory analysis.

“Free kits offered through the county and state are charcoal canister kits. Users are given instructions on how to use them, which typically involves keeping the canister in one location for 48 hours,” Bradley said. “Charcoal absorbs radon molecules and can be tested in the lab to determine levels in your home.”

They are a great starting point option. However, canister test results take time to come back.

For those doing building projects or real estate transactions where time is of the essence, professional tests can be conducted by radon mitigation specialists like Peak Radon using sophisticated equipment that yields real time data and hour by hour results for a modest cost of approximately $100-$150. Winter is an ideal time to test for radon because open windows during warmer months can skew readings.

The good news, according to Bradley, is that mitigating radon is a relatively simple process that does not require major renovations or untenable investments to fix. Radon mitigation occurs in two parts: blocking ingress where possible and ventilation.

The process for ventilating a concrete slab home is to drill a core in the slab to create a void, then attach a fan to draw the radon out and divert it over and away from the structure.

“The average regional cost of this is around $1400,” said Bradley.

Homes with a crawl space require the installation of a 6-mil vapor barrier to encapsulate the crawl space before adding the discharge system for the air.

“Installing the sheeting costs about $1.25 per square foot plus the ventilation system,” Bradley said.

Once the system is in, the home is pretty much set. Bradley recommends checking the fan every fall to make sure it has not malfunctioned as radon levels tend to increase during the winter due to temperature and atmospheric conditions as well as homes being buttoned up against the cold.

Annual or bi-annual testing is appropriate for peace of mind. Airthings, the company that makes the professional grade equipment used by Peak Radon, also makes home models for continuous radon monitoring that run from $100-$600 and give homeowners continuous real time numbers.

“I’ve compared numbers on the home models against mine—which gets tested and recalibrated for accuracy—and the numbers seem to always line up pretty closely,” Bradley said. “Since radon levels fluctuate in small levels by the day and significantly by the season, having a tool that lets you see a spike and open a widow isn’t a bad option to have.”

BOX:

Free Radon Test Kits in Teller County:

Teller County CSU Extension 11115 US Hwy 24, Divide

Teller County Public Health and Environment 11115 US Hwy 24, Divide

Teller County Building Department 800 Research Dr., Woodland Park

Centennial Building, Cripple Creek 112 N. A St., Cripple Creek

Online:

https://states.aelabs.com/#/co