Status report on standard-setting work in the area of environmental radioactivity measurement

Environmental assessment studies are regularly commissioned to study the impact of radioactive substances on the environment and the public, in response to concern about the presence of such substances. The credibility of such studies relies on the quality and reliability of radionuclide analysis as well as the sample representativity of the radiological situation. The recent expansion from national stakeholders to those involving other states requires that activity measured in effluents or environmental samples in a country are reliable and reproducible so as to be accepted by all states potentially concerned by regional contamination. The standard-setting approach, based on consensus, seemed to lend itself to a settlement of technical aspects of potential dispute. This document describes standardization organizations, French and international, the standards published, as well as standardization work under way on the measurement of radionuclides found in environmental matrices.