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Environmental monitoring and measurements

For environmental monitoring on a worldwide scale, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) issues recommendations on the measurement of radiation exposure and safety precautions and standards for sensitive installations. Although not legally binding, the commission’s recommendations are adopted and adapted at the national level. In Europe, the Euratom treaty requires each member state to monitor the levels of environmental radioactivity within its borders, whether it has nuclear power or not. At the international level, the IAEA provides guidance on methods and good practice.
Environmental radioactivity is monitored at two levels: in the immediate surroundings of nuclear installations and also in more remote locations that are not directly affected by these installations, in order to identify any external sources of radioactivity that may affect these areas.
Routine monitoring is carried out regularly by collecting samples of air, water, soil and food, which are then analyzed in the laboratory. In addition, remote monitoring networks measure the radioactivity in the atmosphere and waterways near nuclear installations. The scope and characteristics of these networks vary significantly from one country to another. In France, inspections and monitoring are performed by the ASN with the technical backing of the IRSN which monitors radiation in France through a network using both sample analyses and continuous monitoring equipment.
Other ministerial departments and state services also carry out health inspections on food, livestock raised for food and drinking water.
Each of France’s nuclear sites is subjected to a health and environmental impact study before it goes online. These studies evaluate the consequences of the sites’ radioactive emissions and wastes on the population and the environment. They also help the ASN to set up a regulatory framework for monitoring the environment around each installation as well as its liquid and gas emissions. This system is formalized in a ministerial order that requires operators of nuclear facilities to monitor their waste emissions as well as the environmental conditions both inside and outside the sites.
In order to guarantee the accuracy of the results published, the ASN certifies the laboratories that collect and analyze samples as part of the regulatory measurements of radioactivity. They are the only parties authorized to carry out these measurements, whose results are made available to the public through the RMN (http://www.mesure-radioactivite.fr/public/s-carte.html). Associations like ACRO (Association for Radioactivity Monitoring in Western France) and CRIIRAD have their own laboratories and also carry out inspections and evaluations of the radioecological quality of nuclear sites. In parallel, the CLI (Local Information Commissions), in association with these sites, provide monitoring and information, and also promote public dialogue on nuclear safety, radiological protection and the impact of nuclear activities on people and the environment. The CLIs can commission measurements and evaluations to assess the safety of the installations’ waste emissions.
Another monitoring group, the Becquerel network, was formed by seven laboratories of the CNRS National Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics (IN2P3) to address concerns about the nuclear industry’s impact on the environment. A national platform for the analysis of radioelements, the network's expertise in the behavior of radionuclides in the environment and in the development of cutting-edge detectors is widely recognized. The network conducts environmental studies on radioecology, the transfer and accumulation of radionuclides in the environmental compartments, and the characterization of the health and environmental risks posed by radioactivity. It also carries out radiological inventories prior to the dismantling of nuclear installations.