BfS intensifies radiation research at Munich site

BfS Neuherberg

The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) is further expanding its research activities at its site in Neuherberg near Munich with around a dozen new positions. Following a restructuring of Helmholtz Zentrum Munich, the BfS is taking on 12 scientists and other experts from the research centre this year.

"Germany needs first-class radiation research. It's vital that existing expertise be retained and further developed," explains BfS President Inge Paulini. "In many fields, such as medicine, health protection, radiological emergency preparedness and climate change, radiation research plays an important role that can now be expanded even further."

Inge Paulini

Among the new personnel at the BfS is Professor Werner Rühm, who was Chair of the German Commission on Radiological Protection (SSK) from early 2020 to late 2022 and also assumed the leadership of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) in 2021. The global networks of the newly recruited scientists will be beneficial for the BfS's work in transnational bodies, says Paulini.

"Radiation doesn't stop at national borders – and radiation protection is therefore reliant on international cooperation." The BfS is already active in numerous international bodies – including the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), and bodies of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

In terms of numbers, Neuherberg is the BfS’s largest site, with over 200 members of staff – more than at the headquarters in Salzgitter. In Neuherberg, the Federal Office is located on the campus of Helmholtz Zentrum, where there are plans to build a new research site over the coming years. The BfS is set to use the new site from 2027 onwards.