“Using simple and proven technologies, we can eliminate avoidable radon-induced lung cancers.”
- National Radon Action Plan

The National Radon Action Plan: A Strategy for Saving Lives is dedicated to CanSAR Founder Elizabeth Hoffmann, who succumbed to radon-induced lung cancer on November 6, 2013. The Plan was developed through the collaborative efforts of:

  • American Lung Association
  • American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists
  • American Society of Home Inspectors
  • Cancer Survivors Against Radon (CanSAR)
  • Children’s Environmental Health Network
  • Citizens for Radioactive Radon Reduction
  • Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors
  • Environmental Law Institute
  • National Center for Healthy Housing
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  • U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

The foundation for the National Radon Action Plan (NRAP) was laid In 2010, when the U.S.EPA and other agencies and organizations determined that housing construction booms and insufficient voluntary radon action resulted in an increased radon risk in than had been estimated in 1986, when EPA had last conducted a nationwide radon risk assessment. In an effort to look for new radon solutions, nine federal agencies put together a work group that included government, non-government and industry. They developed the Federal Radon Action Plan (FRAP).

The success of that plan is reported on the EPA’s Federal Radon Action Plan web page.

Here is a short summary from the report:

Since its launch in 2011, participating agencies have successfully completed 88% of their FRAP commitments. As of 2014, these efforts yielded direct and immediate effects reaching at least 1.6 million homes, schools and childcare facilities with federal guidance and incentives and, in 12.5% of those units, testing and mitigating when necessary. Perhaps most importantly, by shining a spotlight on radon and finding ways within existing federal policies and programs to address it, the FRAP agencies spurred a national ramp up in radon risk reduction. This is reflected in the latest data (2013 and 2014) which shows the highest rates of radon mitigation and new construction ever recorded in the U.S.

As federal agencies close out the FRAP, it is with the understanding that this effort has served as a springboard to more strategic national action that will build on current and future FRAP impacts. EPA has joined forces with key players across the government, industry and nonprofit sectors to implement the National Radon Action Plan. This initiative, launched in November 2015 and led by the American Lung Association, aims to mitigate 5 million high radon homes and save 3,200 lives from lung cancer annually by 2020. Moving forward, future impacts from FRAP commitments will continue to be tracked and reported on as part of the NRAP initiative.