The earth is continually bombarded by high-energy cosmic ray particles, and the worldwide average exposure to cosmic rays represents about 13% of the total annual effective dose received by the ...population. Therefore, assessment of cosmic ray exposure at the ground level is of great interest to better understand population exposure to ionizing radiation. This paper presents and describes the European Annual Cosmic-Ray Dose Map at 1 km resolution (
Main Map
). The
Main Map
displays the annual effective dose that a person may receive from cosmic rays at the ground level, which ranges from 301 to 3955 μSv. Moreover, thanks to the availability of population data, the annual cosmic-ray collective dose has been evaluated and population-weighted average annual effective dose (per capita) due to cosmic ray has been estimated for each European country considered in this study. The accuracy of the present study has been confirmed by comparing our results with those obtained using other models.
The European Atlas of Natural Radiation is a collection of maps displaying the levels of natural radioactivity caused by different sources. It has been developed and is being maintained by the Joint ...Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, in line with its mission, based on the Euratom Treaty: to collect, validate and report information on radioactivity levels in the environment of the EU Member States.
This work describes the first version of the European Atlas of Natural Radiation, available in digital format through a web portal, as well as the methodology and results for the maps already developed. So far the digital Atlas contains: an annual cosmic-ray dose map; a map of indoor radon concentration; maps of uranium, thorium and potassium concentration in soil and in bedrock; a terrestrial gamma dose rate map; and a map of soil permeability.
Through these maps, the public will be able to: familiarize itself with natural environmental radioactivity; be informed about the levels of natural radioactivity caused by different sources; have a more balanced view of the annual dose received by the European population, to which natural radioactivity is the largest contributor; and make direct comparisons between doses from natural sources of ionizing radiation and those from man-made (artificial) ones, hence, to better assess the latter.
Work will continue on the European Geogenic Radon Map and on estimating the annual dose that the public may receive from natural radioactivity, by combining all the information from the different maps. More maps could be added to the Atlas, such us radon in outdoor air and in water and concentration of radionuclides in water, even if these sources usually contribute less to the total exposure.
•Radioactive Environmental Monitoring web portal to provide radiological information.•European Atlas of Natural Radiation to inform about natural radioactivity in Europe.•11 maps displaying the levels of radioactivity caused by different natural sources.•Data collection, statistical analysis, and mapping.•Digital version of the European Atlas of Natural Radiation: map viewer and description.
In 2016, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre organised an interlaboratory comparison exercise on the measurement of 137Cs, 134Cs and 131I in air filters. The exercise was conducted in the ...frame of the MetroERM EMRP project with code ENV57.
This paper describes the context of the interlaboratory measurement comparison, the technical implementation, the air filter measurements performed by the participating laboratories and finally the evaluation of the comparison results. The intercomparison exercise results are such that 56 out of the 67 laboratories (i.e. 84%) reported values within the ±20% range of the reference value for both the 137Cs and 134Cs. The evaluation of the performance of the laboratories on 131I was complicated and the details are explained. Nevertheless, 20 (30%) laboratories reported results for 131I with a percentage difference from the reference value within the ±20% range.
•In 2016, the EC Joint Research Centre organised an interlaboratory comparison.•The exercise was conducted in the frame of MetroERM EMRP project with code ENV57.•67 laboratories participated by measuring 137Cs, 134Cs and 131I in air filters.•56 laboratories reported within ±20% from the reference value for 137Cs and 134Cs.•Due to a complication, only 20 laboratories reported results within ±20% for 131I.
Exposure to indoor radon at home and in workplaces constitutes a serious public health risk and is the second most prevalent cause of lung cancer after tobacco smoking. Indoor radon concentration is ...to a large extent controlled by so-called geogenic radon, which is radon generated in the ground. While indoor radon has been mapped in many parts of Europe, this is not the case for its geogenic control, which has been surveyed exhaustively in only a few countries or regions. Since geogenic radon is an important predictor of indoor radon, knowing the local potential of geogenic radon can assist radon mitigation policy in allocating resources and tuning regulations to focus on where it needs to be prioritized. The contribution of geogenic to indoor radon can be quantified in different ways: the geogenic radon potential (GRP) and the geogenic radon hazard index (GRHI). Both are constructed from geogenic quantities, with their differences tending to be, but not always, their type of geographical support and optimality as indoor radon predictors. An important feature of the GRHI is consistency across borders between regions with different data availability and Rn survey policies, which has so far impeded the creation of a European map of geogenic radon. The GRHI can be understood as a generalization or extension of the GRP. In this paper, the concepts of GRP and GRHI are discussed and a review of previous GRHI approaches is presented, including methods of GRHI estimation and some preliminary results. A methodology to create GRHI maps that cover most of Europe appears at hand and appropriate; however, further fine tuning and validation remains on the agenda.
A hypothetical Pan-European Indoor Radon Map has been developed using summary statistics estimated from 1.2 million indoor radon samples. In this study we have used the arithmetic mean (AM) over grid ...cells of 10 km × 10 km to predict a mean indoor radon concentration at ground-floor level of buildings in the grid cells where no or few data (N<30) are available. Four interpolation techniques have been tested: inverse distance weighting (IDW), ordinary kriging (OK), collocated cokriging with uranium concentration as a secondary variable (CCK), and regression kriging with topsoil geochemistry and bedrock geology as secondary variables (RK). Cross-validation exercises have been carried out to assess the uncertainties associated with each method. Of the four methods tested, RK has proven to be the best one for predicting mean indoor radon concentrations; and by combining the RK predictions with the AM of the grids with 30 or more measurements, a Pan-European Indoor Radon Map has been produced. This map represents a first step towards a European radon exposure map and, in the future, a radon dose map.
A map of uranium concentration in soil has been planned for the European Atlas of Natural Radiation. This Atlas is being developed by the Radioactivity Environmental Monitoring (REM) group of the ...Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. The great interest in uranium compared to other terrestrial radionuclides stems from the fact that radon (222Rn) is in the decay chain of uranium (238U) and that public exposure to natural ionizing radiation is largely due to indoor radon.
With several different databases available, including data (albeit not calibrated) from an airborne survey, Belgium is a favourable case for exploring the methodology of uranium mapping. A harmonized database of uranium in soil was built by merging radiological (not airborne) and geochemical data. Using this harmonized database it was possible to calibrate the data from the airborne survey.
Several methods were used to perform spatial interpolation and to smooth the data: moving average without constraint, by soil class and by geological unit. When using the harmonized database, it is first necessary to evaluate the uranium concentration in areas without data or with an insufficient number of data points.
Overall, there is a reasonable agreement between the maps on a 1 km × 1 km grid obtained with the two datasets (airborne U and harmonized soil U) with all the methods. The agreement is better when the maps are reduced to a 10 km × 10 km grid; the latter could be used for the European map of uranium concentration in soil.
•Harmonized soil U database built merging radiological (no airborne) and geochemical data.•U airborne map calibrated using the harmonized U soil database.•Mapping methods: moving average without constraint, by soil class and by geological unit.•Agreement between the maps obtained with the airborne U and soil U with all the methods.•Maps are reduced to a 10 × 10 km2 grid to be used for the European map of U in soil.
In 2016, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre organised an interlaboratory comparison exercise on the measurement of
Cs,
Cs and
I in air filters. The exercise was conducted in the frame of ...the MetroERM EMRP project with code ENV57. This paper describes the context of the interlaboratory measurement comparison, the technical implementation, the air filter measurements performed by the participating laboratories and finally the evaluation of the comparison results. The intercomparison exercise results are such that 56 out of the 67 laboratories (i.e. 84%) reported values within the ±20% range of the reference value for both the
Cs and
Cs. The evaluation of the performance of the laboratories on
I was complicated and the details are explained. Nevertheless, 20 (30%) laboratories reported results for
I with a percentage difference from the reference value within the ±20% range.
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