Verification of licensee's monitoring of radioactive effluents from nuclear installations

For more than 30 years, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) and its predecessor authority respectively, have been verifying the reliability and quality of the licensee’s monitoring of radioactive effluents by operators of nuclear installations.

Example: Analysis result of the proficiency test "waste water" in 2023 (shown: H-3 in waste water)

Instruments for quality assurance

Key instruments for quality assurance are a control measurement programme and proficiency tests. To this end, BfS carries out random control measurements according to § 103 (4) Radiation Protection Ordinance.

Control measurement programme

All samples used for assessment are submitted to the BfS by the operators. BfS selects randomly samples among these according to the guideline "Verification of the Licensee's Monitoring of Radioactive Effluents from Nuclear Power Plants", (see table) and carries out its own activity determinations.

Exhaust air sample prepared for measurement

Proficiency Tests

Supported by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB, National Metrology Institute of Germany), the BfS organises an annual

• proficiency test "exhaust air" for measuring the activity of selected radionuclides on standard filter preparations as well as (see figure "exhaust air sample prepared for measurement")
• proficiency test "waste water" for determining the radionuclide composition of a model waste water and a real sample from a nuclear installation (see figure "waste water samples prepared for proficiency test measurements").

Waste water samples prepared for proficiency test measurements

Additionally, proficiency tests for tritium and carbon-14 on molecular sieve samples are carried out in irregular intervals in the field of “exhaust air”.

It is mandatory for the operators of nuclear installations or for their contracted measurement laboratories to participate in these proficiency tests.

The proficiency tests allow for the objective evaluation of the quality of the measurement values determined in the framework of licensee's monitoring.

In recent years, the participation of international measurement laboratories has increased.

If you are interested in the proficiency test of the BfS, you can register by e-mail:

• for exhaust air: leitstelle-fortluft@bfs.de
• for waste water: leitstelle-h@bfs.de.

Expert talks

Expert talks in the fields of "exhaust air" and "waste water" are held regularly by the BfS. The operators of nuclear installations and the competent supervisory authorities participate in the talks.

At the talks, BfS provides information on current challenges identified during control measurements or proficiency tests and discusses them in the plenary. Furthermore, expert talks are a significant contribution to communicating the state of the art of science and technology in the field of emission monitoring.