Intercomparison exercise on external gamma dose rate under field conditions at the laboratory of natural radiation (Saelices el Chico, Spain).

The last nuclear accident in Fukushima nuclear power plant has increased the necessity for measuring radiation in the environment. Therefore, radiation monitors providing results traceable throughout the country become essential and it is very important to test them under the same environmental conditions. The first intercomparison of natural radioactivity under field conditions was held in Saelices el Chico (Salamanca, Spain) in May 2011, including an exercise on environmental dose rate. This article presents the results achieved by 19 instruments belonging to 12 institutions from 7 different countries. The tested detectors are proportional counters, ionisation chambers, Geiger-Müller and scintillators measuring dose rate in three stations with reference values from 110 to 1800 nGy h(-1). All the results were given in terms of air kerma (nGy h(-1)) and the measurements show agreement within 25 % in all the sites. Evaluation criteria based on accuracy and statistical uncertainty were also carried out and 25 % of participants passed the test in all sites.