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Emergency preparedness of gamma spectrometry laboratories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2009

P. Rulik
Affiliation:
National Radiation Protection Institute, 140 00 Praha, Czech Republic
J. Skrkal
Affiliation:
National Radiation Protection Institute, 140 00 Praha, Czech Republic
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Abstract

During a radiological emergency (RE) a large area may be non-uniformly contaminated with a number of radionuclides, the ratios of which will change in course of time. At the beginning the contaminated area, where consumption and distribution of foodstuffs will be prohibited, will be delimitated in a very conservative manner. So it will be necessary to specify and locate more accurate borders defining areas with contamination significantly higher, significantly lower and “close” to the limits for ruling out distribution and consumption of commodities. This task can be fulfilled mainly by laboratories equipped with semiconductor gamma spectrometry. The sample throughput of laboratories with semiconductor gamma spectrometry depends on many factors. The paper is dedicated to the questions of adequate sample throughput of the laboratories equipped with gamma spectrometry, factors witch influence the throughput including human capacity for 24 hours working regime, and to the optimization of the work in the laboratories. The capacity and the organization chart of laboratories in the frame of the Radiation monitoring network of the Czech Republic are shown, too.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, 2009

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References

Council regulation (Euratom) No. 2218/89 of 18 July 1989 amending Regulation (Euratom) No 3954/87 laying down maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination of foodstuffs and feedingstuffs following a nuclear accident or any other case of radiological emergency
Commission regulation (Euratom) No. 770/90 of 29 March 1990 laying down maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination of feedingstuffs following a nuclear accident or any other case of radiological emergency
Commission Recommendation of 8 June 2000 on the application of Article 36 of the Euratom Treaty concerning the monitoring of the levels of radioactivity in the environment for the purpose of assessing the exposure of the population as a whole, 473 Euratom, (2000)
K.G.W. Inn, I. Outola, S. Nour, H. Kurosaki, L. Albin and A. Berne: Radioanalytical emergency response exercise, Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 269, No.2 (2006), p.351–360
Analytical Laboratories Monitoring Environmental RAdioactivity (ALMERA), http://www.iaea.org/OurWork/ST/NA/NAAL/pci/che/almera/pciAQCSalmera.php