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Office of Air & Radiation
Basic Facts

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EPA's Office of Air and Radiation is involved with a wide variety of issues that affect the quality of our air and protection from harmful radiation. The Air Programs in our office are concerned with indoor air pollution problems and the outdoor air that we all breathe. The Radiation Protection Program is concerned with protecting us from harmful radiation in all media: air, water, and soil.

Air Programs We have informational material on indoor air pollution problems, including radon. We have programs that are primarily concerned with motor vehicles and others that focus on stationary sources such as factories and power plants. We have programs related to topics that you may have read about in your local newspapers such as acid rain, global warming (pollution prevention), and the hole in the ozone layer.

For an exhaustive listing of resources and contacts see the OAR Information Resources document (PDF). Our Publications page includes links to many informative online resources: to read about trends in the ambient levels of air pollutants during the past ten years and assess the current status of our nation's air quality, see the Air Quality Trends Report; to gain a basic understanding of the Clean Air Act, take a look at the Plain English Guide to the Clean Air Act; read our Choosing Where You Live document for a list of publicly available information sources and guidelines to use when evaluating different geographic areas; check out our Clean Air Common Sense Primer for answers to frequently asked questions concerning its updated public health air quality standards; you may even view an online video about ozone at our Ozone: Double Trouble site. Another important part of the work of the Office of Air and Radiation is in Advising Congress on air pollution matters of national concern and providing a "yearly report" on the status of air quality in America.

Radiation Programs We have basic informational material on understanding radiation as well as information on specific radiation topics.

We have programs that focus on protecting the public from harmful exposure to radiation in all media. Some of these programs focus on broad radiation issues such as assessing radiation risk and preparing for and responding to radiation emergencies. Other programs focus radioactive waste management issues:

safe, long-term management of radioactive wastes:
- Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for low level transuranic wastes
- Yucca Mountain repository for high level radioactive wastes.
dealing with mixed wastes (wastes that contain both radioactive and chemical contaminants)
cleaning up radioactively contaminated sites
preventing radioactive contamination of the metal supply
Managing naturally occurring radioactive materials that have been concentrated by human activity.

In addition, OAR's radiation protection programs target air emissions of radionuclides.

For a listing or resources and contacts see the document "OAR Information Resources" (PDF). The OAR Publications page includes links to informative online resources.