Euratom monitoring and Article 35
verifications
Vesa Tanner
European Commission
DG Energy
Radiation Protection Unit
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
DG Energy (ENER) Directorates
A. General Policy
B. Security of supply, Energy markets and Networks
C. New and renewable sources of energy, Energy efficiency
and Innovation
D. Nuclear energy
E. Nuclear safeguards
As of 14 April 2010
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
Directorate D (Nuclear Energy)
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D.1: EURATOM co-ordination, international relations
D.2: Nuclear Energy, waste management
D.3: Nuclear accountancy
D.4: Radiation protection
 Sector D.4.001: „Implementation of EURATOM
Articles 35 and 36 “ (includes Article 35
verifications)
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
Legal background (1)
Art. 35 Euratom Treaty:
 “Each Member State shall establish the facilities necessary to
carry out continuous monitoring of the level of radioactivity in
the air, water and soil and to ensure compliance with the
basic standards.”
 “The Commission shall have the right of access to such
facilities; it may verify their operation and efficiency.”
 DG ENER – Radiation Protection unit has the
responsibility of undertaking these verifications.
 Historically, the intensity of the verification activity has
been a matter of Commission current policy.
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
Legal background (2)
 Commission Communication* and Bilateral Protocols deal
with the practical arrangements of verification visits:
Applicability
Scope
Guiding Principles
Planning of Visits
Realisation of Visits
Procedure of Reporting
* ES: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do
?uri=OJ:C:2006:155:0002:0005:ES:PDF
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
General scope and purpose (1)
Verification visits can cover:
(1) environmental radiation monitoring of
 Air
 Dose and dose rate
 Water (drinking, ground, marine, inland, precipitation, …)
 Soil
 Fallout
 Biological samples (marine/terrestrial)
 Foodstuffs (individual samples, mixed diet, milk, wild food
products)
 Feed
(2) monitoring of radioactive discharges to the environment
(liquid, gaseous)
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
General scope and purpose (2)
Verification visits can cover:
 National monitoring systems (on-line and off-line)
 Nuclear power plants
 Nuclear fuel cycle installations
 Radioactive isotope production plants
 Hospitals using radioactive isotopes
 Current and past mining activities
 NORM activities
 Research facilities
 Decommissioning projects
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
General scope and purpose (3)
The main purpose is to provide an independent assessment
on the adequacy of the monitoring facilities
Verification visits should allow a correct evaluation and a
judgement of the:
Operation of monitoring facilities (their set-up and use)
Suitability of sampling and sample preparation methods
Suitability of analytical methods, effectiveness of equipment
Management of records, results, archives
Data handling and reporting procedures
Quality control measures
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
Targets
Verification visits of installations are split into:
 discharge monitoring with regard to aerial and liquid
effluents, and
 site-specific environmental monitoring, as performed by the
operator and by or on behalf of the regulator
Verification visits of national monitoring systems give an
overview of
 country-wide automatic and laboratory based networks
 emergency monitoring arrangements
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
Reporting by the Commission
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Draft technical report (in one of the working languages of
the European Commission)
Checking of factual accuracy by the Member State
(groups involved in verification)
Finalisation of technical report by the Commission, sent
to MS via Permanent Representation
Main findings report by the Commission, sent to MS
Translation into the MS language if needed, sent to MS
for checking language
Publication of main findings, technical report and any MS
comments on the Europa web site
A general report on the whole programme is prepared for
the European Parliament on a regular basis.
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
Planning of visits – Considerations
 Visit ‘new’ EU Member States in a timely manner
 Provide follow-up to past visits; in particular if actions were
recommended
 Continue to cover major nuclear activities in all Member
States
 Act in case of (public) concerns
 Seek a balance between large nuclear facilities and
national networks
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
Usual feedback items (1)
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Frequency of foodstuffs sampling
Density of automatic monitoring networks
Rain and grass sampling
Laboratory hardware and software
Laboratory accreditations and quality systems
Availability of expertise for online monitoring and database
management
 Long term continuity of the monitoring programmes of past
activities
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
Usual feedback items (2)
 Lack of discharge monitoring in medical facilities
 Public availability of results
 Sample and results archiving
 Sample management in laboratories
 Inadequate number of personnel (especially for
emergency situations)
 Lack of in-house expertise in radiation measurements
(measurements outsourced to another country)
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
Recent verification visits (1)
Reports of the recent verification visits can be downloaded
from the Radiation Protection web site on the EUROPA
server:
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/nuclear/radiation_protection/
article_35_en.htm
This includes the Technical Report, the Main Findings and any
Comments by the Member State in which the verification visit
took place. Generally these reports are in the language of the
Member State as well as in English.
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
Recent verification visits (2)
Denmark 2008
Romania Uranium
production 2008
Tricastin site (FR) 2008
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
Recent verification visits (3)
IRE-Fleurus (Belgium) 2009
Forsmark (Sweden) 2009
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
Recent verification visits (4)
Isar-2 (Germany) 2009
Jaslovske Bohunice (Slovakia) 2009
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
Recent verification visits (5)
Świerk (Poland) 2009
Bulgaria (former uranium mining issues)
2009
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
Recent verification visits (6)
Huelva (Spain) 2009
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011
The Article 35 Team
•Three full-time EC officials
•Four part-time EC officials
•Detached national experts needed, hard to find
Constant Gitzinger Eberhardt Henrich
Stefan Mundigl
Alan Ryan
Remigiusz Baranczyk
Vesa Tanner
Cecile Hanot
Topical Day on monitoring of radioactivity in the environment
Oslo 12-13 April 2011