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Emergency preparedness
Co-operations of the BfS with national and international partners in the field of emergency preparedness
Biological dosimetry networksshow / hide
Co-operation partners
Objective
To provide international cooperation and mutual assistance in biological dosimetry after large-scale radiological emergencies
Automation of the dicentric assayshow / hide
Co-operation partners
- Public Health England, Chilton, United Kingdom
- Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
- Institut für Radiobiologie der Bundeswehr, Munich, Germany
- Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Objective
The aim of this co-operation is to standardize the automation of the dicentric assay to be prepared in case of a major radiation accident to provide this assay for biological dosimetry in several laboratories simultaneously.
Automation of the micronucleus assayshow / hide
Co-operation partners
- Public Health England, Chilton, United Kingdom
- Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
- Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, Warsaw, Poland
- Bundeswehr Institute of Radiobiology, Munich, Germany
- University Gent, Belgium
Objective
The aim of this co-operation is to standardize the automation of the micronucleus assay to be prepared in case of a major radiation accident to provide this assay for biological dosimetry in several laboratories simultaneously.
Co-operation concerning the FISH assayshow / hide
Co-operation partners
- Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Bundeswehr Institute of Radiobiology, Munich, Germany
- Public Health England, Chilton, United Kingdom
- Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, Warsaw, Poland
- Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
- National Center for Radiobiology and Radiation Protection, Bulgaria
- Servicio Madrileño de Salud - Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain
Objective
The aim of this co-operation is to harmonize and standardize the fluorescence in situ hybridization assay (FISH) to be prepared in case of a major radiation accident to provide this assay for biological dosimetry in several laboratories simultaneously.
Gamma H2AX assayshow / hide
Co-operation partners
- Public Health England, Chilton, United Kingdom
- Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, Warsaw, Poland
- Universität Gent, Belgium
- Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Bobadela-LRS, Portugal
- National Center for Radiobiology and Radiation Protection, Bulgaria
- Servicio Madrileño de Salud - Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain
Objective
The aim of this co-operation is to harmonize and standardize gamma H2AX assay to be prepared in case of a major radiation accident to provide this assay for biological dosimetry in several laboratories simultaneously.
A global noble gas sampling network for monitoring atmospheric activity concentration of Kr-85 and radioxenonshow / hide
Co-operation partners
- Institut für Umweltphysik der Universität Heidelberg
- Universität Bern (Suisse)
- IAEA (Wien, Austria)
- Health Canada (Ottawa, Canada)
- Japan Chemical Analysis Center (Chiba, Japan)
- Deutscher Wetterdienst Offenbach
- Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Braunschweig
- Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker-Zentrum für Naturwissenschaft und Friedensforschung (ZNF) der Universität Hamburg
- Environmental Research Institute of the Supervising Scientist Division (ERISS) (Darwin, Australia)
Objective
Krypton-85 and radioactive xenon isotopes are highly volatile and, thus, routinely released from facilities for nuclear fuel reprocessing or medical isotope production, nuclear reactors and other civil applications. Atmospheric ambient concentrations have a very characteristic temporal and geographic background. A sound knowledge of this background, trends and underlying transport mechanisms as well as a highly sensitive and mature measurement technology are needed if these trace materials are used to discover clandestine nuclear activities.
Among these applications are the verification for
- the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty (CTBT),
- the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and possibly
- a future Treaty to prohibit production of fissile material (Fissile Material Cut-off, FMCT).
Since more than three decades BfS is running a system of sampling points with many partners world wide and analyses these samples in its noble gas laboratory. The data are used as a basis for feasibility studies for verification methodologies as well as for documenting trends and informing the public.
Utilization of radionuclide measurements in ambient air for investigating transport processes in the environment and for validating of atmospheric dispersion modellingshow / hide
Co-operation partners
- Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe Hannover
- Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker-Zentrum für Naturwissenschaft und Friedensforschung (ZNF) der Universität Hamburg
- Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie Hamburg
- Institut für Radioökologie und Strahlenschutz der Leibniz Universität Hannover
- Institut für Umweltphysik der Universität Heidelberg
- Physikalisches Institut Universität Bern, Abteilung Klima und Umweltphysik (Suisse)
- Institut für Umweltgeowissenschaften der Universität Basel (Suisse)
- Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik (Wien, Austria)
- Institut für Meteorologie, Universität für Bodenkultur (Wien, Austria)
- Health Canada (Ottawa, Canada)
- Institut de Tècniques Energètiques (INTE) Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) Barcelona, (Spain)
Objective
Radionuclides have an important role as tracers in environmental sciences. The continuous measurement of radioactive noble gases as well of radionuclides attached to particles at distributed sites provides important information on source distribution, transport in the environment and transfer between different compartments, namely atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. The BfS is particularly offering its quality assured many year data series to cooperation partners for use in publications.
Development and testing of a Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride room temperature semi-conductor detectorshow / hide
Co-operation partners
- Freiburg Materials Research Centre (Freiburg, Germany)
- Health Canada (Ottawa, Canada)
- Institut de Tècniques Energètiques (INTE) Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) (Barcelona, Spain)
- STUK - Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Finland
- Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty Organization (CTBTO)
- Kromek Group plc, Sedgefield, Country Durham, United Kingdom
Objective
Development and testing of a cadmium-zinc-telluride (CZT) semiconductor detector operated at room temperature and a digital multi channel analyser. These systems could enhance the BfS dose rate monitoring network with nuclide specific detection capabilities.
The BfS operated dose rate monitoring network with its approximately 1750 probe sites is the network for environmental radioactivity with the highest spatial density. However, it provides no nuclide specific information. This information, however, is needed in order to provide a reliable assessment of an ongoing event and to take protective actions.
Currently, nuclide specific measurements have to be made at selected dose rate probes by mobile systems. The results are then interpolated within the network. The inevitable time delay is a weak point in the system.
To fill this gap, a co-operation with the Freiburg material research centre was started for several years ago to study new detector materials (e.g. CZT semiconductor or LaBr3 scintillator) for the BfS emergency measuring network. The aim is to complement or replace the Geiger-Müller probes of the BfS dose rate monitoring network with spectroscopic systems if applicable. The derived spectra should reliable differentiate between artificial and natural external radiation and give prompt nuclide specific information, so that time consuming mobile in-situ measurements especially in the early phase of a nuclear accident could be replaced to a large extent.
To detect and identify typical fission products in the environment, the semiconductor and scintillation detectors have to be improved with respect to sensitivity and energy resolution. Also the price for a mass production should be well below a standard HPGe detector system to build a cost-effective and nationwide network. Meanwhile 10 systems with CZT- and LaBr3-detectors are prototypical integrated in the network. Based on the experiences in the next years it is planned to integrate successive spectroscopic probes in the BfS dose rate monitoring network.
International Noble Gas Experiment (INGE)show / hide
Co-operation partners
- Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty Organization (CTBTO)
- Defense Research Institute (FOI) Sweden
- Commisariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA), France
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), USA
- Health Canada (HC), Canada
- STUK - Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Finnland
- Seibersdorf Labor GmbH, Seibersdorf, Austria
- Zentrum für Naturwissenschaften und Friedensforschung der Universität Hamburg
- Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe Hannover
- Khlopin Radium Institute (Saint-Petersburg, Russia)
Objective
Radioactive xenon isotopes play a key role for the verification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). An operational global monitoring network must be able to detect and locate clandestine tests and to discriminate from civil background.
Coordinated efforts are needed to develop highly sensitive but also robust measurement systems and procedures for data analysis, source reconstruction and to be able to identify unambiguously verification relevant events. The INGE collaboration mainly supports the Provisional Technical Secretariat of the CTBTO and institutions and data centres of States Signatories accountable for data interpretation.
Harmonization of ambient dose rate measurements within the EU (Project AIRDOS)show / hide
Co-operation partners
- Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), (Braunschweig, Germany)
- Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS)
- Joint Research Centre (JRC) der EU in Ispra (Italy)
- European Radiation Dosimetry Group (EURADOS)
- European Association of Metrology Institutes (EURAMAT)
Objective
Gamma dose rate is being monitored in large scale monitoring networks all over Europe since over 20 years. Bilateral and international data exchanged steadily increases. Different systems based on different physical principles and operated in different environments render data which are not directly comparable. This is mainly due to different sensitivities of detectors against the various components of the ambient dose rate.
A standardised procedure is needed which corrects for all relevant effects based on validated inter-comparisons. This should then facilitate a harmonized presentation of the data. The inter-calibration platform (INTERCAL) at the Schauinsland mountain site provides with its long term data inter-comparison an important contribution complementing the biannual inter-comparison measurement organized by EURADOS.
In addition the BfS is involved in the research project SRT-v15 "Metrology for Radiological Early Warning Networks in Europe" of the European Association of Metrology Institutes (EURAMET). The main tasks are: development and characterization of novel spectroscopic GDR probes, QA/QC of GDR measurements, further development of air particular filter systems with better QA/QC and harmonization, validation of the influence of systematic heterogeneities of the measured data within the longtime experience of the EURDEP/AIRDOS projects.
State of 2016.06.06