Technical Report Art35 Estonia 2005 Final
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EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR ENERGY AND TRANSPORT Directorate H – Nuclear Energy Radiation protection TECHNICAL REPORT VERIFICATIONS UNDER THE TERMS OF ARTICLE 35 OF THE EURATOM TREATY ESTONIAN NATIONAL MONITORING NETWORK FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RADIOACTIVITY REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA 19 to 23 September 2005 Reference: EE-05/04 Art. 35 Technical Report – EE-05/04 VERIFICATIONS UNDER THE TERMS OF ARTICLE 35 OF THE EURATOM TREATY FACILITIES Monitoring network for environmental radioactivity in Estonia SITES Tallinn, Harku, Paldiski, Sillamäe, Kunda DATE 19 to 23 September 2005 REFERENCE EE-05/04 INSPECTORS V. Tanner (team leader) P. Vallet Y-H. Bouget (national expert on secondment – France) E. Henrich (national expert on secondment – Austria) DATE OF REPORT 10.3.2006 SIGNATURES V. Tanner P. Vallet E. Henrich Y-H. Bouget Page 2 of 29 Art. 35 Technical Report – EE-05/04 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 6 2. PREPARATION AND CONDUCT OF THE VERIFICATION 7 2.1. PREAMBLE 7 2.2. PREPARATORY DOCUMENTS 7 2.3. PROGRAMME OF THE VISIT 7 2.4. REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ESTONIAN COMPETENT AUTHORITIES AND THE ASSOCIATED LABORATORIES 7 3. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 9 3.1. GENERAL 9 3.2. RESPONSIBLE ORGANISATIONS 9 3.3. PALDISKI SITE 10 3.4. SILLAMÄE SITE 10 4. LEGAL PROVISIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RADIOACTIVITY MONITORING IN ESTONIA 10 5. ENVIRONMENTAL RADIOACTIVITY MONITORING IN ESTONIA 11 5.1. EXTERNAL AMBIENT GAMMA DOSE RATE 11 5.2. AIRBORNE PARTICULATES 12 5.3. SURFACE WATER 12 5.4. DRINKING WATER 13 5.5. MILK PRODUCED IN ESTONIA 13 5.6. FOODSTUFFS - MIXED DIET 13 5.7. PRODUCTS FROM NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS 13 5.8. RESIDUES MONITORING PROGRAMME OF FOOD OF ANIMAL ORIGIN 13 6. VERIFICATION ACTIVITIES 14 6.1. NATIONAL MONITORING PROGRAMME 14 6.2. ERPC LABORATORY 14 6.3. AUTOMATIC MEASUREMENT NETWORK 17 6.4. MOBILE MEASUREMENT VEHICLE 17 6.5. PMS SYSTEM IN TALLINN 17 6.6. HARKU METEOROLOGICAL STATION 18 6.7. VETERINARY AND FOOD BOARD 18 6.8. PALDISKI SITE 18 6.9. METEOROLOGICAL STATION AT NARVA-JÕESUU 19 6.10. NARVA RIVER WATER SAMPLING 20 6.11. METEOROLOGICAL STATION AT KUNDA 20 6.12. SILLAMÄE SITE 20 7. CONCLUSIONS 21 Page 3 of 29 Art. 35 Technical Report – EE-05/04 APPENDIX 1 References and documentation APPENDIX 2 Verification programme APPENDIX 3 Figure 1 Monitoring stations in Estonia Table 1 Air monitoring stations in Estonia Table 2 Sampling stations for surface water (rivers) Table 3 Sampling stations for sea water and other marine samples Table 4 Sampling stations for drinking water Table 5 Sampling sites for milk APPENDIX 4 New Paldiski monitoring programme Page 4 of 29 Art. 35 Technical Report – EE-05/04 TECHNICAL REPORT ABBREVIATIONS BSS Basic Safety Standards DG TREN Directorate General for Energy and Transport EC European Commission EIA Environmental Impact Assessment ERPC Estonian Radiation Protection Centre EURDEP European Radiological Data Exchange Platform FWHM Full Width at Half Maximum GM Geiger-Müller HELCOM Helsinki Commission HPGe High Purity Germanium IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency IRMM Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements ISO International Standardization Organization MCA Multichannel Analyser NPP Nuclear Power Plant QA Quality Assurance STUK Finnish Centre for Nuclear and Radiation Safety TLD Thermoluminescence Dosimetry UPS Uninterruptible Power Supply Page 5 of 29 Art. 35 Technical Report – EE-05/04 1. INTRODUCTION Article 35 of the Euratom Treaty requires that each Member State shall establish facilities necessary to carry out continuous monitoring of the levels of radioactivity in air, water and soil and to ensure compliance with the basic safety standards (BSS)1. Article 35 also gives the European Commission (EC) the right of access to such facilities in order that it may verify their operation and efficiency. For the EC, the Directorate-General for Energy and Transport (DG TREN) and more in particular its Radiation Protection Unit (TREN H4) is responsible for undertaking these verifications. For the purpose of such a review, a verification team from DG TREN visited sites located in Estonia, which are part of the national monitoring system for environmental radioactivity. The visit included meetings with representatives of the Estonian Radiation Protection Centre, The Estonian Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, the State Veterinary and Food Board, the Ökosil Company and the Alara Company. The present report contains the results of the verification team’s review of relevant aspects of the environmental surveillance in Estonia. The purpose of the review was to provide independent verification of the adequacy of monitoring facilities for air, soil, water and foodstuffs. With due consideration to the scope of the verification mission and taking into account the relatively short time available for the execution of the programme, it was agreed that emphasis would be put on: - Structure of the national environmental monitoring and sampling programme, - ERPC analytical laboratory, - On-line automatic monitoring systems, - Environmental monitoring programme at the Paldiski site and - Environmental monitoring programme at the Sillamäe site. The present report is also based on information collected from documents referred to in Appendix 1 and from discussions with various persons met during the visit, listed in section 2 below. 1 Council Directive 96/29/Euratom of 13 May 1996 laying down basic safety standards for the health protection of the general public and workers against the dangers of ionizing radiation. Page 6 of 29 Art. 35 Technical Report – EE-05/04 2. PREPARATION AND CONDUCT OF THE VERIFICATION 2.1. Preamble The Commission’s decision to request the conduct of an Article 35 verification was notified to the Estonian Government on 2 August 2005 (letter referenced TREN.H4/CG/le D(2005) 103297, addressed to the Permanent Representation of Estonia to the European Union). The Estonian Government subsequently designated the Estonian Radiation Protection Centre (ERPC) to lead the technical preparations for this visit. 2.2. Preparatory documents In order to facilitate the work of the verification team, some information was supplied in advance by the ERPC. Additional documentation was provided during and after the visit. All documentation received is listed in Appendix 1. The information thus provided has been extensively used for drawing up the descriptive sections of this report. 2.3. Programme of the visit EC and ERPC discussed and agreed upon a programme of verification activities, based on a draft Communication by the EC, setting out the framework and modalities within which Article 35 verifications may be conducted. A summary overview of the programme of verification activities is provided in Appendix 2. The verifications were carried out in accordance with the programme. The EC team was divided into two teams; one team carried out the verification of the foodstuffs monitoring programme and the Paldiski site and the other team was responsible for verification of the automatic monitoring systems and the Sillamäe site. Both teams participated in the verification of the ERPC laboratory. 2.4. Representatives of the Estonian competent authorities and the associated laboratories During the visit the following representatives of the national authorities and other parties involved were met: Estonian Radiation Protection Centre, Tallinn, representing the Ministry of the Environment Ms. Merle Lust director Ms. Eia Jakobson head of analytical laboratory Ms. Evelyn Pesur specialist, environmental monitoring Ms. Monika Lepasson specialist, environmental monitoring Ms. Karin Muru specialist, licensing of radiation practices Mr. Toomas Kööp adviser Mr. Aldo Tera specialist, early warning systems Page 7 of 29 Art. 35 Technical Report – EE-05/04 Mr. Raivo Rajamäe head of radiation monitoring department Veterinary and Food Board, Tallinn Ms. Inge Mängel chief specialist, office for food of animal origin Alara company, Paldiski Mr. Joel Valge head Mr. Mart Varvas technical adviser Ökosil company, Sillamäe Mr. Antti Siinmaa project manager Ms. Dina Shestakova head of laboratory Mr. Vladimir Nosov technical manager Ms. Ekaterina Shumilina laboratory specialist Ms. Nadezda Mironova laboratory specialist Estonian Meteorological and Hydrological Institute Mr. Mati Leipalu head of the meteorological station at Harku Mr. Toomas Pruul head of hydro-meteorological station at Narva- Jõesuu Ms. Svetlana Werle observer of the meteorological station at Kunda The verification team acknowledges the co-operation it received from all individuals mentioned. Page 8 of 29 Art. 35 Technical Report – EE-05/04 3. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 3.1. General Estonia has no nuclear programme, but the legacy of the Soviet Union has left it with several radioactivity-related environmental issues, most important being the former naval nuclear training centre site at Paldiski and the Sillamäe uranium mining tailings pond, in addition to the general contamination of the environment by the Chernobyl accident. There are several operational nuclear reactors close to Estonia (Loviisa (Finland), Sosnovy-Bor (Russia) and Ignalina (Lithuania)), so monitoring of radioactivity in the environment is well justified. Monitoring of radioactivity in environment and foodstuffs includes surveillance of artificial radiation and artificial radionuclides. Natural radiation and natural radionuclides are not included in the monitoring programme. Exposure to natural radiation is controlled by research activities if there is reason to suspect that natural radionuclides may