Staff at a Devon prison at the centre of an investigation into high levels of radioactive radon gas are concerned about their health, according to their union.
Sarah Rigby, South West representative for the Prison Officers' Association , said "several" of the 126 staff they represented at Dartmoor had approached the union.Ms Rigby said: "They're obviously worried about any future health connotations that this might have, it's something they potentially won't know for 10, 20, 30 years.
In 2020, the average annual radon level peaked at 2,988bq/m3 in one area of the prison, according to one of the measuring devices distributed throughout the building - the FOI response said.Meanwhile, in 2023 "within A wing cellular accommodation" the highest recorded level, seasonally adjusted to calculate the annual average, was 3,123 bq m-3.
"If somebody has spent significant amount of time in this sort of concentration that could be a problem with respect to health.