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Radon metrology for use in climate change observation and radiation protection at the environmental level

Röttger, Stefan ; Röttger, Annette ; Grossi, Claudia ; Vargas, Arturo ; Karstens, Ute LU orcid ; Cinelli, Giorgia ; Chung, Edward ; Kikaj, Dafina ; Rennick, Chris and Mertes, Florian , et al. (2022) In Advances in Geosciences 57. p.37-47
Abstract

Radon (222Rn) gas is the largest source of public exposure to naturally occurring radioactivity and the identification of radon priority areas is required by the Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom. Radon is also used as a tracer to improve atmospheric transport models and to indirectly estimate greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes using the Radon Tracer Method (RTM). This method is based on the correlation between atmospheric concentrations of radon and GHG, together with information on the radon flux data. For radiological data, all European countries have installed networks of automatic gamma dose rate monitoring stations and report the real-time information gathered to the European Radiological Data Exchange Platform (EURDEP). So far,... (More)

Radon (222Rn) gas is the largest source of public exposure to naturally occurring radioactivity and the identification of radon priority areas is required by the Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom. Radon is also used as a tracer to improve atmospheric transport models and to indirectly estimate greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes using the Radon Tracer Method (RTM). This method is based on the correlation between atmospheric concentrations of radon and GHG, together with information on the radon flux data. For radiological data, all European countries have installed networks of automatic gamma dose rate monitoring stations and report the real-time information gathered to the European Radiological Data Exchange Platform (EURDEP). So far, atmospheric radon activity concentrations and radon fluxes are not yet reported in EURDEP, nor routinely measured within the European radiological networks although these observations could help to avoid false positives results. Due to above applications, there is a need of building a metrological chain to ensure high quality radon activity concentrations and radon flux measurements. Both climate and radiation protection research communities underline the need for improved traceability in low-level atmospheric radon measurements (Khanbabaee et al., 2021). The EMPIR project 19ENV01 traceRadonThis project 19ENV01 traceRadon has received funding from the EMPIR programme co-financed by the Participating States and from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. 19ENV01 traceRadon denotes the EMPIR project reference. is aimed towards providing the necessary measurement infrastructure and transfer standards to fulfil this need. Results of this project are particularly important for improving independent GHG emission estimates that support national reporting under the Paris Agreement on climate change and for the Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom, thus benefitting two large scientific communities. In this paper, early results, such as new activity standard developments and an overview of commercial and research radon monitors are presented and discussed. These results will feed into the traceRadon project with respect to radionuclide metrology in air and its potential for the improvement of the RTM.

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publication status
published
subject
in
Advances in Geosciences
volume
57
pages
11 pages
publisher
European Geosciences Union
external identifiers
  • scopus:85127357991
ISSN
1680-7340
DOI
10.5194/adgeo-57-37-2022
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
281995d5-4e55-4035-beee-aa6f2ae4b388
date added to LUP
2022-06-03 14:57:58
date last changed
2023-05-10 14:51:41
@article{281995d5-4e55-4035-beee-aa6f2ae4b388,
  abstract     = {{<p>Radon (222Rn) gas is the largest source of public exposure to naturally occurring radioactivity and the identification of radon priority areas is required by the Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom. Radon is also used as a tracer to improve atmospheric transport models and to indirectly estimate greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes using the Radon Tracer Method (RTM). This method is based on the correlation between atmospheric concentrations of radon and GHG, together with information on the radon flux data. For radiological data, all European countries have installed networks of automatic gamma dose rate monitoring stations and report the real-time information gathered to the European Radiological Data Exchange Platform (EURDEP). So far, atmospheric radon activity concentrations and radon fluxes are not yet reported in EURDEP, nor routinely measured within the European radiological networks although these observations could help to avoid false positives results. Due to above applications, there is a need of building a metrological chain to ensure high quality radon activity concentrations and radon flux measurements. Both climate and radiation protection research communities underline the need for improved traceability in low-level atmospheric radon measurements (Khanbabaee et al., 2021). The EMPIR project 19ENV01 traceRadonThis project 19ENV01 traceRadon has received funding from the EMPIR programme co-financed by the Participating States and from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. 19ENV01 traceRadon denotes the EMPIR project reference. is aimed towards providing the necessary measurement infrastructure and transfer standards to fulfil this need. Results of this project are particularly important for improving independent GHG emission estimates that support national reporting under the Paris Agreement on climate change and for the Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom, thus benefitting two large scientific communities. In this paper, early results, such as new activity standard developments and an overview of commercial and research radon monitors are presented and discussed. These results will feed into the traceRadon project with respect to radionuclide metrology in air and its potential for the improvement of the RTM.</p>}},
  author       = {{Röttger, Stefan and Röttger, Annette and Grossi, Claudia and Vargas, Arturo and Karstens, Ute and Cinelli, Giorgia and Chung, Edward and Kikaj, Dafina and Rennick, Chris and Mertes, Florian and Radulescu, Ileana}},
  issn         = {{1680-7340}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{37--47}},
  publisher    = {{European Geosciences Union}},
  series       = {{Advances in Geosciences}},
  title        = {{Radon metrology for use in climate change observation and radiation protection at the environmental level}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-57-37-2022}},
  doi          = {{10.5194/adgeo-57-37-2022}},
  volume       = {{57}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}