News from IACRS (Inter-agency committee on radiation safety): managing exposure due to radon at home and at work
IACRS has published the document that contains the information overview prepared by the Inter-Agency Committee on Radiatiojn Safety. You can dowload the full document here.
PhD positions at University of Antwerp
Doctoral scholarship holder, Radon Health Communication
ERA flyer
The ERA flyer is vailable to download here
IAEA Update on the implications of the radon dose conversion factors
Indoor radon measurements in workplaces in Luxembourg
Implementation of legislation in Luxembourg
On 28 May 2019, a new law on radiation protection1 came into force in Luxembourg, transposing the European Directive 2013/59/EURATOM into national law. Henceforth, measurements of radon in air are mandatory in workplaces as specified in the legislation. Article 127 of this law stipulates: “The measurements of radon concentration in air may be carried out by […] any laboratory authorised for this purpose by the Minister”.
New requirement
It is thus possible for any laboratory or company to apply for an authorisation from the Minister of Health to carry out radon measurements in workplaces in Luxembourg.
Conditions to be fulfilled
To obtain this authorisation, the Grand-Ducal Regulation2 of 1st August 2019 specifies, in article 59: “In anticipation of radon measurements, the quality assurance system of the laboratory includes:
1° An analytic quality control system;
2° Annual audits by experts or bodies independent of the laboratory in question;
3° Interlaboratory comparisons for the measurement of radon in air.”
Applications
Any institution that fulfils these conditions may send an application for authorisation with supporting documents to the following address:
Ministère de la Santé
Villa Louvigny, Allée Marconi
L-2120 Luxembourg
European Radon Day 2019
7th of November is the European Radon Day. We are updating the specific page on our website with all initiatives and satellite events that are happening in Europe on this day. Please send us what’s on on your country!
HAPPY EUROPEAN RADON DAY 2019 !!
New ERA officers
The process of internal elections to choose the new ERA officers has finished. The new ERA officers that will come into office as of 1st January 2020 are:
- ERA President: Wolfgang Ringer (AGES, Austria)
- ERA Vice-President: Per Nilsson (Independia International, Sweden)
- ERA Treasurer: Boris Dehandschutter (FANC, Belgium)
- ERA Secretary: José – Luis Gutiérrez Villanueva (Radonova AB, Sweden)
Postdoctoral Position in Radon Risk Perception and Communication:
iCRAG PPU Advert_final
20190426_ann_ERA_workshopPhD position at SCK-CEN in Mol:
Radon risk communication: From raising awareness to behavioural change
PhD project, call for candidates
Short project description
The exposure to radon in homes is one of the most important causes of lung cancer deaths worldwide (WHO, 2009). In Belgium, approximately 480 (7%) cases of lung cancer per year are estimated to be attributable to radon (FANC-AFCN, 2018) Due to the considerable effects of radon on public health, comprehensive radon action programs, including communication on risks from radon, are required to be developed in all EU Member States following the 2013/59/Euratom Directive. While limited researches have explored affected population’s understanding of radon and risk perception of radon, the research related to behavior change e.g. “measure and fix” is lacking. As a result, empirical evidence from different countries shows that there is a value-action gap, which means that there is no or low correlation between knowledge about radon (awareness) and actually doing a home radon test or applying mitigation actions (behavior change) by the affected population. Similar value-action gaps are reported in the field of medical applications of ionizing radiation (e.g. patients request CT scan) or from nuclear emergency recovery (e.g. consumers boycott food products from Fukushima). Therefore this PhD aims to bridge the gap between awareness and radiation protection behavior. It will combine state of the art of behavioral models with health and risk communication models and apply them to the radiation protection field. The research aims to identify for the first time behavior change agents for radiation protection, develop models and tools for effective, efficient, equitable and sustainable risk communication and formulate practical guidelines and communication tools to bridge the value-action gap for radiation protection in general and for radon in particular.
This research will be carried out under co-promotership of Prof. David Hevey of the Trinity College Dublin and in close cooperation with the Belgian Federal Agency for Nuclear Control FANC (Dr. Boris Dehandschutter).
Before applying, please consult the guidelines for application for PhD:http://academy.sckcen.be/en/Your_thesis_internship/PhD_thesis/Topics
ERA Radon week in Lugano (24 – 28 September 2018)
ERA Radon Week 2018
Invitation to the next radon webinar held by IAEA: Development of educational resources on radon for health care providers
You can register and find further information on this link.
IAEA webinar (2018-04-05)
The IAEA is launching a new series of online seminars for professionals and others interested in tackling problems associated with naturally occurring radon. The webinars will feature sessions on topics such as sharing information about radon exposure, possible remediation techniques and building materials and mapping of radon. The series has been created in cooperation with international and national organizations including the European Radon Association (ERA), the U.S. Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD) and the World Health Organization (WHO). For more information please visit https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/learn-from-experts-iaea-launches-online-seminars-on-radon.
The first seminar will be held on 5 April 2018
IAEA Webinar “Communication and advocacy through real estate”.
Presenter: Phillip Ray Gibson
Date of broadcast: 5 April 2018, 4 pm CEST
Organized jointly with the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD)
Further information and registration: https://www.iaea.org/resources/webinar/communication-and-advocacy-through-real-estate
END OF YEAR AND NEW YEAR GREETINGS FROM THE OUTGOING AND INCOMING ERA PRESIDENTS
Greetings to MembersAARST and ERA
Dr Phillip Jenkins, President of the American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists (AARST) and Dr James Mc Laughlin , President of the European Radon Association (ERA) at the Annual AARST Symposium, New Orleans October 2017.
EUROPEAN RADON ASSOCIATION ANNUAL AWARD 2017
Dr Zora S. Žunić ,Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences,Belgrade has been presented with the 2017 European Radon Association Award for her outstanding and pioneering contributions , often in very difficult situations, in investigating the exposure of the population of Serbia to the natural radioactive gas Radon-222.
New ERA officers
The process of internal elections to choose the new ERA officers has finished. The new ERA officers that will come into office as of 1st January 2018 are:
- ERA President: Wolfgang Ringer (AGES, Austria)
- ERA Vice-President: Per Nilsson (Independia International, Sweden)
- ERA Treasurer: Boris Dehandschutter (FANC, Belgium)
- ERA Secretary: José – Luis Gutiérrez Villanueva (Radonova AB, Sweden)
Air Quality Assessment: the LIFE-RESPIRE project
On 21 September 2017, the European LIFE-RESPIRE (acronym for Radon rEal time monitoring system and Proactive Indoor Remediation) project was launched in a public meeting organized at Sapienza University in Rome (Italy). The partnership of the project includes: the Research Center of Prediction, Prevention and Control of Geological Risks (CERI) of the Rome University “Sapienza” (project leader), the Institute of Environmental Geology and Geoengineering of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-IGAG), the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) (Rome, Italy), the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC) (Brussels, Belgium), the industrial partner Elica S.p.A. (Fabriano, Italy) and CiaoTech s.r.l. (Rome, Italy).
Rn has been classified as a carcinogen since 1988 and declared by the United Nations Commission on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) as the most important source of ionizing radiation in indoor environments. The project concerns the monitoring and the assessment of radon risk in confined environments (e.g. workplaces and private buildings), where people lives 80-90% of their time, in order to reduce the exposure of the population to natural radiation.
The main goals of ‘Life-Respire’ are:
– the application in four areas – three in Italy and one in Belgium – characterized by different Geogenic Radon Potential, of an economical and environmentally friendly instrumentation for the real-time measurement and remediation of radon levels in selected buildings below the reference action level of 300 Bq/m3 and up to 100 Bq/m3 (as indicated in the European Directive 2013/59 / EURATOM). The project provides a remediation system of indoor air quality, intelligent hybrid, adaptive and versatile, consisting of sensors, an intelligent air intake and monitoring system (SNAP) and an additional external ventilation system (eolicand / or electric) based on the positive pressure method. A control model based on a IoT protocol will also be developed;
– the construction of a geodatabase that will allow to store in real time data from the continuous radon measurements (SNAP system), together with other geological, geochemical data, as well as with the constructive features of the monitored buildings. The database will be managed and disseminated through a dedicated WebGIS platform. All stored data could be integrated, after calibration and verification by the responsible authorities, within the European Atlas of Natural Radiation (promoted by the European Community’s Joint Research Center);
– the definition of radon risk guidelines and radon concentration maps (indoor and outdoor) that can be used from local authorities to identify the Radon Prone Areas for health risk assessment and management, and for land-use planning within national action plans (see Articles 54, 74 and 103 of 2013/59 / EURATOM).
The open meeting was attended by the representatives of the various research partner organizations and by the Mayors of the Lazio municipalities directly involved in the project: Caprarola (Viterbo), Celleno (Viterbo) and Ciampino (Rome).
“The project will provide a significant contribution to the protection of human health from exposure to natural radioactivity,” said Giancarlo Ciotoli, researcher of CNR-IGAG. “In addition, the collected data will be available to all stakeholders through a dedicated WebGIS platform that will allow data interrogation and web mapping applications. The WebGIS will constitute a useful tool for public authorities and authorities to find innovative solutions for land-use planning and epidemiological research on radon exposure”.
Contact information:
Sabina Bigi (Project Leader, CERI, Sapienza) sabina.bigi@uniroma1.it
Giancarlo Ciotoli (CNR-IGAG) giancarlo.ciotoli@igag.cnr.it
Alessandra Sciarra (INGV) alessandra.sciarra@ingv.it
Boris Dehanschutter (FANC) boris.dehandschutter@fanc.fgov.be
Mauro Castello (ELICA, S.p.A.) m.castello@elica.com
Realization and transmission of the quantity radon activity concentration at the calibration laboratory of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), Germany
Thomas Beck
Due to the change in the policy of PTB regarding the traceability of radon quantities, it was necessary for BfS to set up a facility for the realization and transmission of the measurement quantity radon activity concentration. The basic component of the facility is a radon-tight chamber with a certified volume traced back to a standard volume at PTB. The facility is equipped with instruments for monitoring temperature and air pressure. This basic setup is extended by an additional volume as well as by devices for monitoring online the actual radon activity concentration and for extraction of a defined quantity of radon-loaded air.
The facility can be used flexibly to fulfill different measurement tasks, and to improve the traceability of the measurement quantity. First results show that the measurement uncertainties achieved correspond excellently to the uncertainties of the former calibrations carried out by PTB. In extension to PTB which provided calibrations only in the range above 1000 Bq/m³, the facility of BfS can calibrate instruments even down to 100 Bq/m³.
The purpose of the facility established at BfS is not only to ensure and improve the traceability for the BfS radon calibration laboratory itself, but also to transmit the quantity radon activity concentration to external interests. With this facility, BfS contributes towards international harmonization and comparability of radon measurements.
RESULTS OF THE RECENT ELECTION FOR THE INCOMING EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE FOR THE PERIOD 2018-2019
The EC election and its outcome was approved by the General Assembly (GA) which took place in Hotel Park Moskva, Sofia on Wednesday May 17th 2017 following the ERA Workshop. The maximum number of valid votes that could have been cast was 110. The actual number of votes cast was 94. All these votes were valid. Three votes were cast in person at the GA while 91 had been cast electronically prior to the GA. The ERA Membership had been informed of the online voting procedures by e-mail on 21 April by the Secretary. All voting, both online and in person, was done confidentially. Just prior to the GA the votes cast were verified and counted by the ERA President, Secretary and Treasurer.
The following is a list of the candidates (in alphabetical order) together with the votes each candidate received. There were 17 candidates for 15 positions. In keeping therefore with the ERA Statutes the candidates which received the 15 highest number of votes were presented to the GA which gave its approval to their election. The incoming EC, which takes office on 1 January 2018, will in due course elect from within its ranks its four officers (President, Vice –President, Secretary and Treasurer). The successful candidates for these positions will also be announced on the ERA Website.
| NAMES OF CANDIDATES | NUMBER OF VOTES RECEIVED |
| Rebecca Coates | 48 |
| Bernard Collignan | 77 |
| Boris Dehandschutter | 88 |
| Martin Freeman | 58 |
| Jose Luis Gutierrez-Villanueva | 88 |
| Maria Hansen | 68 |
| Erik Hulber | 44 |
| Stephanie Hurst | 80 |
| Geraldine Ielsch | 56 |
| Krzysztof Kozak | 54 |
| James Mc. Laughlin | 83 |
| Matej Neznal | 81 |
| Per Nilsson | 77 |
| Dobromir Pressyanov | 51 |
| Wolfgang Ringer | 86 |
| Thomas Streil | 22 |
| Vladimir Udovicic | 57 |
V ERA Workshop: announcement
ERA2017_workshop_announcementEPA Ireland press release
Radon gas and conveyancing 27.02.17 (2)Further information about radon and conveyancing is on EPA website:
http://www.epa.ie/radon/homebuyersandsellers/
Details of both registration schemes:
http://www.epa.ie/pubs/advice/radiation/radonremediationcompanies.html
https://www.epa.ie/radiation/meas/radon/services/apply/
V ERA Workshop: call for abstracts
The fifth edition of ERA radon workshop will be held in Sofia, Bulgaria on 17th May 2017. The topic this year will be radon risk communication (see TEERAS conference website (http://teeras2017.com) for further information). The workshop will take place on 17th May commencing at 14.00 hrs and will be followed by the ERA General Assembly. The precise programme/schedule for the workshop can only be made be available following the abstract deadline. Therefore if you wish to make a presentation at the workshop we kindly ask you to now submit an abstract for consideration by the workshop committee. The deadline for abstract submission is 7th April 2017 at 17.00 hrs. You can send your abstract to the email of ERA Secretary (secretaryATradoneurope.org).
If you are a registered participant at the TEERAS conference attendance at the ERA workshop is free of charge. If you intend only to come to the workshop, your fee as an ERA member is € 20 (payable on or before the 17th May).
ERA award 2017
The period to submit candidates to the ERA award 2017 is open. Therefore we encourage ERA members to present candidates based on the following conditions:
a. Deadline for nominees is 17th March 2017
b. The candidate can be any who has made an outstanding contribution to the radon issue
c. Candidates does not need to be ERA members, but they must be European citizens (not only EU citizens) or non-Europeans who work/study/live in the territory of Europe. However, the candidate must be presented by an ERA member
d. The candidate will be presented together with the reasons supporting the bid
f. The name of the winner will be announced during the ERA workshop that will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria, 17th May 2017
g. Candidacies should be sent to ERA secretary (secretary@radoneurope.org)
h. Amount of the award: 500 €
Elections of the Executive Committee of the European Radon Association (ERA)
The process for submitting candidate names to become member of the ERA Executive Committee is open. Please check out the procedures and rules in the section http://radoneurope.org/index.php/about-era-2/executive-committee/
European Radon Day 7th November 2016
Last year the first European Radon Day, an initiative led by ERA occurred on 7th November 2015. This event was a big success and satellite events took place in several European countries. You can find a summary of what happened at the ERA website.
The Executive Committee of ERA agreed on its last meeting to keep 7th November as the annual date for European Radon Day. The reason for choosing that day is that it is the birthday of Marie Sklodowska-Curie. Therefore, we encourage you to carry out activities such as public awareness actions, press communications, campaigns, training, publicity, etc… on that day and share with us through the website. So send us any material you wish to appear on the website and we will inform ERA members.
V ERA Workshop and V ERA General Assembly
The fifth edition of ERA radon workshop will be held in Sofia, Bulgaria on 17th May 2017. The topic this year will be radon risk communication. Also, the V ERA General Assembly will be take place at the same location as the workshop. Both events will be part of the TEERAS conference (http://teeras2017.com) (Sofia, Bulgaria).
Co-option ERA Executive Committee
Dobromir Pressnayov was co-opted for the EC. This co-option must be confirmed during the next ERA General Assembly in May 2017.
Period for co-opting onto ERA Executive committee is open:
In case you wish to put your name forward, please send an e-mail to the ERA Secretary by 1st June 2016 at latest.
News: Basic Training Course in Radon Metrology and Control and IV ERA Radon workshop
You can download the final program of these events: Program: radon course and ERA workshop:
OBITUARY
Constantin Cosma, our beloved colleague and friend, passed away on Thursday 7th of April 2016 in Mexico where he was hospitalised. The Executive Committee of ERA wishes to offer its sympathies to his family and love ones. Rest in peace
- The second announcement for the radon basic training course and IV ERA radon workshop is ready. They are two separate events and participants can choose to register either to the radon course or ERA workshop or both. Please find the announcement here: 20160224_rs1_EraCiudadRodrigoIIA.
- ERA has decided to establish the first award on the honour of our colleague Martin Neznal. Therefore we encourage ERA members to present candidates based on the following conditions:a. Deadline for nominees is 5th January 2016b. The candidate can be any young person (30 years old or younger) who has made an outstanding contribution to the radon issue (for instance: student/school type radon project)
c. Candidates does not need to be ERA members, but they must be European citizens (not only EU citizens) or non-Europeans who work/study/live in the territory of Europe. However, the candidate must be presented by an ERA member
d. The candidate will be presented together with the reasons supporting the bid
e. The list of nominees will be available in the ERA website
f. The name of the winner will be announced during the ERA workshop that will take place in the town of Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain 28-29 April 2016
g. Candidacies should be sent to ERA secretary (secretary@radoneurope.org)
h. Amount of the award: 500 €
- News from the ICRP Commission meeting held in Sydney, Australia (April 13-17, 2015): click to download document
- A new “top level” inter-comparison for Rn222 is on going and being supervised by BIPM-CCRI. Radon samples of unknown activity, sealed in metallic vessel, were dispatched to the participants last June. We expect to share with you more information about the results in the coming months.
- IV ERA Radon workshop and General Assembly will be held in Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain (28th – 29th April 2016) . The event will take place together with a 3-day radon course organized by LaRUC (University of Cantabria, Spain) to cover basic aspects of the radon issue.
- III ERA Radon workshop and General Assembly
The workshop and general assembly were held in the city of Krakow, Poland, at hotel Galaxy during the 2nd International Conference “Radon in the Enviroment 2015”.
The workshop topic was “Designing National Radon Action Plans”. The schedule of the workshop is described below.
08:30 – 08:35 Welcome (James McLaughlin, ERA President)
08:35 – 09:10 ERA Lecture: EU- BSS and summary of the Paris HERCA-ASN-NRPA radon workshop (J. McLaughlin, JL. Gutierrez-Villanueva, B. Dehandschutter and W. Ringer)
09: 10 – 10:10 Session 1: “Questions regarding the implementation of the radon requirements of the EU BSS”
– Harmonization project to apply the new EU-BSS (C. Sainz Fernandez et al.)
– Radon Action Plan Mitigation Guidance – Diagnostic Profiling of Radon Mitigation Systems (R. Coates and M. Freeman)
10:10 – 10:25 Coffee break
10:25 – 11:00 Invited presentation: IAEA Action Plan Flow Chart (Katerina Rovenska)
11:00 – 12:00 Session 2: “Implementation of Action Plans”
– Current state of preparation for a national Radon regulation in Saxony, Germany (S. Hurst)
– Milestones in the preparation of a national radon action plan in Poland (K. Kozak and J. Mazur)
– First steps towards a national radon action plan in Serbia (V. Udovičić et al.)
12:00 – 12:30 Discussion and announcements
12:30 – 13:00 Martin Neznal Memorial Lecture (B. Dehandschutter)
13:00 Closure
Soon, presentations will be available on this website only to ERA members
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- ERA Member Crowned “Britain’s Best Small Business of 2014”
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The European Radon Association is delighted that one of its founder members, propertECO have won a national award recognising their business success and contribution to reducing exposure to cancer-causing radon.
propertECO, which is run by ERA Executive Committee member Martin Freeman and his business partner Rebecca Coates supplies radon test kits and installs mitigation systems for clients across the UK. The company entered The Pitch, the UK’s longest running small business competition as they saw an opportunity to raise the profile of radon particularly amongst other business owners. Having fought off competition from over 1000 other entrants, Rebecca impressed the panel of judges at a live event held in Bristol with a three-minute pitch about the business, followed later by another three-minute pitch about why the company should win. In this, Rebecca focused on the need to create radon awareness in the UK, where over 2000 people die from radon-induced lung cancer every year.
The company has received a significant amount of press, with the media branding propertECO as a “cancer-beating company”; something which will be hugely valuable in conveying the message that radon is a health risk. You can read more about propertECO’s success in The Pitch by following this link – http://www.thepitchuk.com/news/cancer-beating-company-named-britains-best-small-business-2014
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- The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization (WHO), launched the 4th edition of the European Code Against Cancer with the participation of the European Commission. Based on the best available scientific evidence, the new Code provides 12 ways to adopt healthier lifestyles and boost cancer prevention across Europe. Radon prevention is highlighted as one of the ways to reduce cancer risk (http://cancer-code-europe.iarc.fr/index.php/en/ecac-12-ways/radiation-recommandation)
- The Third ERA Radon Workshop and General Assembly will be both held in Krakow on 29th May 2015.
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