Dosimetry of environmental radiation--a report on the achievements of EURADOS WG3.

Owing to the fact that a nuclear accident is a border-crossing problem, all national active monitoring systems should measure the same quantity with a comparable level of precision. Also, the sensitivity of the systems must be such that sudden changes in the environmental dose rate are recognised and a radiological incident is clearly identified. Thus, international intercomparisons of the so-called Early Warning Systems are the best method to assure high quality measurements. Supported by the European Commission within the scope of the 4th and 5th Framework Programmes, intercomparisons of these Early Warning Systems were organised by European Radiation Dosimetry (EURADOS) Working Group 3 (WG3) in 1999 and 2002. The methods developed for this purpose are based on controlled irradiation of the systems and the determination of their responses to secondary cosmic radiation. One of the major problems turned out to be the correct subtraction of the internal background. Investigating this problem was only possible by carrying out measurements at almost zero dose rate, as available in the Underground Laboratory for Dosimetry and Spectrometry (UDO) maintained by Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt. Progress was also achieved with regard to including in situ gamma spectroscopy systems in the 2002 intercomparison. For these systems, the UDO irradiation facility provides a unique possibility to measure the spectral responses to monoenergetic photons.