Natural radioactivity content, radon emanation and some other physical characteristics of red mud were investigated, so that to identify the possibilities of the safe utilization of such material as a building material additive. Based on the radionuclide concentration, red mud is not permitted to be used directly as a building material, however, mixing of a maximum 20% red mud and 80% clay meets the requirements. The main aim of this work was to determine the dependence of the emanation factor of red mud firing temperature and some other parameters. The relevant experimental procedure was carried out in two different ways: without any additional material, and by adding a known amount of sawdust (5-35 wt%) then firing the sample at a given temperature (100-1000 degrees C). The average emanation factor of the untreated dry red mud was estimated to 20%, which decreased to about 5% at a certain heat treatment. Even lower values were found using semi-reductive atmosphere. It has been concluded that all emanation measurements results correlate well to the firing temperature, the specific surface and the pore volume. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.