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Topics
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Electromagnetic fields
- What are electromagnetic fields?
- Static and low-frequency fields
- Radiation protection relating to the expansion of the national grid
- High-frequency fields
- Radiation protection in mobile communication
Optical radiation
Ionising radiation
- What is ionising radiation?
- Radioactivity in the environment
- Applications in medicine
- Applications in daily life and in technology
- Effects
- What are the effects of radiation?
- Effects of selected radioactive materials
- Consequences of a radiation accident
- Cancer and leukaemia
- Genetic radiation effects
- Individual radiosensitivity
- Epidemiology of radiation-induced diseases
- Ionising radiation: positive effects?
- Risk estimation and assessment
- Radiation protection
- Nuclear accident management
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The BfS
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Measuring networks
In consequence of the reactor accident in Chernobyl, a nationwide measuring system was established in Germany to measure the environmental radioactivity. The reactor accident of Chernobyl in 1986 showed that the preparations for the event of a large-area contamination of the environment were far from being sufficient. Radioactivity measurements in the environment had not been carried out systematically and had not been co-ordinated. The dose estimations and the exchange of data among the institutions had not been planned in advance and, as a result, were time-consuming. A comprehensive presentation of results was done only unsystematically. This contributed to politicians evaluating the situation differently and led to considerable feelings of insecurity in the population.
The Precautionary Radiation Protection Act (Strahlenschutzvorsorgegesetz, in German only) was created and has since provided for the continuous monitoring of radioactive substances in the environment based on binding measuring programmes. After a transitional period it will be replaced by the Radiation Protection Act (StrlSchG, in German only) which entered into force in July 2017.