Our statutory responsibility

The RPII has a statutory responsibility to provide advice to the Government, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and other Ministers on a range of matters relating to radiation protection. Research supports this advisory function in a number ways. These include:

• Maintaining links with other scientists, in Ireland and abroad
• Keeping RPII scientists up to date with research findings.
• Maintaining the RPII’s levels of expertise in research methodology, which is crucial to providing high quality advice
• Helping maintain our state of preparedness in the event of a radiation emergency
• Contributing to the understanding of radiation in the environment.

In addition to conducting research to support its advisory function, the RPII also has a specific statutory responsibility to undertake and support research.

Current and scheduled research work

Below are descriptions of current or scheduled RPII work which include a significant element of research.

Habit survey

A study of the ‘habits’ of people along the north-east coast is being undertaken in order to find out how their diet and activities may influence their exposure to radioactivity.  Information collected during interviews with the public includes

• The amount of locally acquired seafood that is consumed
• The amount of time spent undertaking activities in coastal areas.

The local foods and activities identified as being significant in the habits survey will help direct and improve future monitoring programmes.

Collaborators: Cefas (UK)

Study of indoor thoron concentrations

A study of indoor thoron  in Irish homes is being undertaken. Measurements of radon and thoron  will be made in houses in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. This project commenced in summer 2007 and all survey work is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008.

Collaborators: UCD (Ireland) and NIRS- National Institute of Radiation Science (Japan)

Technetium-99 in sediments

A technique to measure technetium-99 in sediments is currently being validated. Once validated, this technique will be used to measure technetium-99 profiles in sediment cores taken from the western Irish Sea mud patch. The aim of this work is to assess the technetium-99 inventory in the mud patch.

Collaborators: Cefas (UK)

Retrospective assessment of technetium dose from shellfish

Discharges of technetium-99 increased in 1994 due to new operations at Sellafield. The RPII began measuring technetium in fish and shellfish in 1996. Archived fish and shellfish samples from 1990 to 1994 have now been analysed retrospectively to establish a baseline for technetium-99. 

Natural radioactivity in groundwater

In 2008, a nationwide survey began to measure radioactivity in groundwater. This survey aims to establish a national picture of the levels of natural radioactivity in Irish groundwaters. While some groundwater supplies have been identified as having elevated levels of radioactivity, no systematic geographic-based survey had previously been undertaken. It is anticipated that the work will take approximately three years to complete.

Collaborators: EPA (Ireland)

Collaborative work with the marine modelling group at UCG

It is proposed to undertake collaborative work with the marine modelling group at UCG to examine how representative the RPII’s monitoring data is for conservative radionuclides such as Technetium-99 and Caesium-137 in the Irish Sea. This work will take advantage of an Irish Sea model, which has been implemented by UCG, and of the large volume of monitoring data for the north western Irish Sea collected by the RPII and others.

Collaborators: UCG (Ireland)

Modelling of the consequences for Ireland of an accidental release from Wylfa NPP

The consequences for Ireland of the RPII Wylfa reference accident have been estimated using the Rimpuff atmospheric dispersion model and the ARGOS Food Dose Model. The results have been reported in the RPII Wylfa report.

Collaborators: Met Eireann (Ireland)

Atmospheric dispersion modelling of krypton-85 discharges from the La Hague reprocessing plant

The RPII is collaborating on a project using measurements of krypton-85 (a radioactive gas) discharged from La Hague reprocessing plant. IRSN, a French research organisation, have measured the krypton levels in air. These results will be compared to results predicted by the RPII’s atmospheric dispersion model.

Collaborators: IRSN (France)

Intercomparison of atmospheric dispersion models

The RPII is participating in an international project to compare a number of different atmospheric dispersion models used in Europe. It is planned to prepare a joint technical report on the results of the intercomparison.
Collaborators: RIVM (The Netherlands), Risø (Denmark), SCK-CEN (Belgium)

Food and Dose Module (FDM) adaptation

The RPII has adopted the European FDM model for Irish conditions. This work has been presented at an international conference Radioecology and Environmental Radioactivity held in 2008.

Collaborators: CONRAD (Germany), PDC (Denmark) and a number of national agencies including the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and Teagasc.

4th EURADOS Intercomparison of Early Warning Network Systems

In 2008, the RPII participated in an intercomparison of monitoring equipment for early warning systems. The intercomparison involved a number of countries and was organised by PTB, Germany. The intercomparison tested the response of the equipment and plume simulation experiments.

Collaborators: PTB (Germany) and other European laboratories.

Seasonal correction factors for radon measurements in homes

The standard protocol for measuring radon in homes in Ireland is that a radon measurement is needed in a living room and a bedroom over a minimum of three months. On analysis, the radon concentration in these rooms is averaged. This average is seasonally adjusted to take account of the months of the year in which the measurement was made. This seasonally adjusted average is compared to the Reference Level.

The seasonal correction factors used by the RPII are derived from UK data. The RPII is collaborating with UCD on a project to develop seasonal correction factors based on Irish data.  This will allow a more accurate measurement of radon in Irish homes.

Collaborators: UCD (Dept of Statistics)

Short-term radon measurements

The standard protocol requires that a radon measurement must be made over a period of at least three months to compare it to the Reference Level.  The RPII is carrying out research to see if a shorter, one month, measurement period could be used, without compromising the accuracy of the reading.

Collaborators: UCD (Dept of Statistics)