The RPII’s environmental monitoring programme aims to measure the exposure of the Irish population from radioactivity in the environment, to assess the distribution of radioactivity in the Irish environment and to maintain systems and procedures which would allow a rapid assessment of environmental contamination to be made in the event of a radiological emergency.
The RPII designs its monitoring programme to achieve the objectives defined above. Samples are collected from around Ireland and the levels of radioactivity in them are measured. These measurements are then used to calculate the dose received by members of the Irish public.
The RPII also collects and analyses samples to comply with the requirements of Article 35 of the EURATOM Treaty. Article 35 requires that levels of radioactivity are measured across Ireland to help determine the impact on the population as a whole. The European Commission recommends what samples should be taken to fulfil this requirement. The RPII monitoring programme is regularly reviewed.
Different kinds of analyses are done on different samples. Most samples will be analysed by gamma spectrometry; this is a cost-effective technique which can identify a wide range of radioactive elements from the characteristic gamma rays they emit.
Not all radioactive elements emit radiation in the form of gamma rays. Therefore additional techniques are used which fall into two broad categories:
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Radiation dose calculator
Radiation monitoring
Radon maps
Chernobyl Monitoring radiation in the environment Radiation fact sheets Radiation research by RPII Sellafield The permanent monitoring network