A Brief Overview of the Radioprotection Activities in the Joint Research Centre Ispra - Italy

1. A Brief Overview of the Radioprotection Activities in the Joint Research Centre Ispra - Italy Nina JUDGE * and Francesco D’ALBERTI ** * Medical Service Ispra, DG ADMINISTRATION- L7, JRC - Ispra ** The Safety, Security and Radiological Protection Unit - IPSC, JRC - Ispra.

2. THE JRC'S MISSION To provide customer driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of the European Union policies

3. The seven JRC institutes are located in five Member States

5. THE JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE - ISPRA

6. THERADIOPROTECTION ACTIVITIES Medical Service Ispra Capabilities Provides routine bioassay monitoring for workers on and off the site On - site Emergency decontamination facility

7. Ion Coupled Plasma -Mass Spectrometry • Gamma Spectrometry • Alpha spectrometry for plutonium, americium, uranium, thorium, neptunium and others • Tritium analysis in bioassay samples Analysis capabilities include:

8. Fig.1 ICP-MS laboratory

9. Fig.2 Alpha Spectrometry laboratory with 90 counting chambers

10. Fig.3 Microdigest 3.6 open vessel digestion of twelve samples simultaneously

11. Fig.4 Electrodeposition apparatus

14. It can be concluded that these results do not show any observable concentrations of Am- 241, Pu- 238, Pu- 239,240 and U- 238 contamination in the urine samples analysed.

15. The Safety, Security and Radiological Protection Unit IPSC- JRC - Ispra TASKS AND ACTIVITIES Control of environmental radioactivity inside and outside the JRC Control of the workers exposed to ionising radiation Radioprotection Support to the European Union Consultancy in Radioprotection, instrument calibration and meteorological data for third parties

16. FACILITIES Radiochemistry laboratory (sample treatment) Radiometry laboratory (,  and  radioactivity) On-line Data System ( and  radioactivity in airborne continuously sampled) Dosimetry Service (environment and workers’ dose assessment) Instrument Calibration Laboratory (Accredited Secondary Standards Laboratory) Whole Body Counter (internal contamination) Meteorological Observatory (pressure, temperature, humidity, solar radiation, intensity and direction of wind)

17. The Safety, Security and Radiological Protection Unit IPSC- JRC - Ispra INSTRUMENTS  spectrometry system (solid state detectors)  spectrometry system (solid state detectors) gross and system ZnS(Ag) and GM counters) HTO system (liquid scintillator counters) environmental radiation (plastic scintillator counters)  dose (TLD badges and reader)

18. MEASUREMENTS OF RADIOACTIVITY IN ENVIROMENTAL SAMPLES at The Safety, Security and Radiological Protection Unit, IPSC -JRC - Ispra airborne samples (HTO,  gross and spectr.,  gross and 90Sr,  spectr.) ~ 500/y fall-out samples (HTO,  gross and spectr.,  gross and 90Sr,  spectr.) ~ 80/y water samples (HTO,  gross,  gross and 90Sr,  spectr.) ~ 350/y soil samples ( spectr.) ~ 12/y herbage samples (90Sr,  spectr.) ~ 50/y milk samples (HTO, 90Sr,  spectr.) ~ 70/y fish samples ( spectr.) ~ 10/y various samples ( spectr.) ~ 50/y environmentdose rate (TLD) ~ 250/y Total ~ 1400/y

19. Gross beta radioactivity in fall-out Gross beta radioactivity in air 2 3 1958-1996 (Bq/m ) 1958-1996 (Bq/m ) 1,00E+05 1,00E+00 1,00E+04 1,00E-01 1,00E+03 1,00E-02 1,00E+02 1,00E+01 1,00E-03 1,00E+00 1,00E-04 1,00E-01 1958 1966 1974 1982 1990 1958 1966 1974 1982 1990 ISPRA DATA

20. 90 90 Sr radioactivity in air 1962-1996 Sr radioactivity in fall-out (Bq/m3) 1958-1996 (Bq/m2) 1,00E-02 1,00E+03 1,00E-03 1,00E+02 N O 1,00E-04 1,00E+01 D A 1,00E-05 1,00E+00 T A 1,00E-06 1,00E-01 1,00E-07 1,00E-02 1958 1966 1974 1982 1990 1958 1966 1974 1982 1990 ISPRA DATA

21. 137 137 Cs radioactivity in fall-out Cs radioactivity in air 1962-1996 1958-1996 (Bq/m2) (Bq/m3) 1,00E+04 1,00E-01 1,00E+03 1,00E-02 N O 1,00E+02 1,00E-03 D A T 1,00E-04 1,00E+01 A 1,00E-05 1,00E+00 1,00E-06 1,00E-01 1958 1966 1974 1982 1990 1958 1966 1974 1982 1990 ISPRA DATA

22. 90 90 Sr radioactivity in milk 1960-1996 Sr radioactivity in herbage (Bq/g(Ca)) 1960-1996 (Bq/g(Ca)) 2,5E+00 3,0E+01 2,5E+01 2,0E+00 2,0E+01 1,5E+00 1,5E+01 1,0E+00 1,0E+01 5,0E-01 5,0E+00 0,0E+00 0,0E+00 1960 1968 1976 1984 1992 1960 1968 1976 1984 1992 ISPRA DATA

23. 137 137 Cs radioactivity in milk 1960-1996 Cs radioactivity in herbage (Bq/g(k)) 1960-1996 (Bq/g(k)) 1,0E+02 1,0E+02 1,0E+01 1,0E+01 1,0E+00 1,0E+00 1,0E-01 1,0E-01 1,0E-02 1,0E-02 1960 1968 1976 1984 1992 1960 1968 1976 1984 1992 ISPRA DATA

24. 90Sr 90 137 herbage/milk ratio for Sr and Cs 137Cs 100,00 10,00 1,00 0,10 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 ISPRA DATA

25. ISPRA DATA 239-240 238 3 Pu and Pu in air 1961-1995 (Bq/m ) 1,00E-04 Pu-239+240 1,00E-05 Pu-238 1,00E-06 1,00E-07 1,00E-08 1,00E-09 1,00E-10 1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991

26. Gamma dose inside JRC Gamma dose outside JRC 1977-1996 (nSv/h) 1977-1996 (nSv/h) 2,0E+02 2,0E+02 1,5E+02 1,5E+02 1,0E+02 1,0E+02 5,0E+01 5,0E+01 0,0E+00 0,0E+00 1977 1982 1987 1992 1977 1982 1987 1992 ISPRA DATA

27. ISPRA DATA • The presence of low contamination in the environment around JRC and the possible doses to the population are due to the consequences of: • the nuclear accident in Chernobyl • the nuclear experiments performed in the atmosphere around 1960 • The radioactive effluents discharged by the JRC establishment in the environment have always implied a negligible effective dose equivalent • The evaluation of the data through the years must take into account the changes in the instrumentation i.e. the improvement of the minimum detectable activities.