Radiation early warning system
Austria has had a nationwide automatic monitoring system for environmental radioactivity for 40 years.
The Austrian radiation early warning system has more than 300 stations, at which the external radiation (gamma local dose rate ODL) is measured automatically and continuously. In addition 10 air-monitoring stations (AMS) are installed in regions close to the border, which continuously determine the concentration of radioactive substances in the air. The currently measured values are transmitted online to the headquarters at the Federal Ministry in Vienna and analysed. There, the values are also accessible to other responsible provincial and national institutions, such as the provincial warning centres.
Purpose of the radiation early warning system
Normally, the system registers the natural radiation to which humans are constantly exposed. However, if radioactive substances are released into the environment, for example due to a serious accident in a foreign nuclear power plant, the spreading radioactive cloud could lead to an increase in the radiation level. The sensitive measuring probes of the radiation early warning system can register such increases immediately and would trigger an alarm for the responsible authorities.
After the Chernobyl reactor accident in 1986, the dose rate at the measuring points increased to around ten times the normal value. At that time, the Austrian radiation early warning system was the only fully automated measuring network in operation in Europe and supported the authorities in taking protective measures. Comparable systems have now been set up in most European countries. In many of these countries, the measured values are also available on the Internet
- Deutschland (bfs.de) (Germany) (in German only)
- Schweiz (naz.ch) (Switzerland) (in German only)
- Slowenien (ursjv.gov.si) (Slovenia) (in German only)
External radiation
The stations of the Austrian radiation early warning system register the ionising radiation in the environment - the Gamma local dose rate. The average measured values are between 70 and 200 nanosieverts per hour.
As long as no extraordinary events occur, the majority of external radiation is of natural origin and comes from the radioactive chemical elements in the environment and from cosmic radiation. Only a small proportion of the radiation comes from contamination of the environment with artificial radionuclides (fall-out) from the nuclear weapons tests of the 1960s and the Chernobyl reactor accident in 1986.
The level of the natural radiation background at the measuring points depends on the local geological situation. For example, a significantly higher local dose rate is measured in the Waldviertel than in Burgenland due to the granite soil. The higher the measurement location, the greater the intensity of the cosmic radiation. This is why stations in the Alpine region and in the Waldviertel and the Mühlviertel show the highest measured values in the radiation early warning system.
External radiation is only one of the pathways via which humans are exposed to ionising radiation. On average, it accounts for about a quarter of the total dose.
Current measured values
The current measured values (in German only) from 111 stations of the radiation early warning system can be called up daily. The stations shown here are a representative and comprehensive selection of locations in all district capitals, towns near the border and some altitude stations. Some of these values have also been included in the ORF Teletext (page 623) for many years.
Automatic data exchange
Intergovernmental agreements enable the online exchange of data between the Austrian radiation early warning system and similar monitoring networks in neighbouring countries. This would make it possible to assess the impact on Austria at an early stage in the event of a release of radioactivity abroad.
The majority of European countries have established radiation monitoring networks. Because of intergovernmental agreements the Austrian experts of the Radiation Protection Division have got online access to the measurement data of the systems of many neighbouring countries: The Austrian radiation early warning system can display the current measured values from the stations in Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia, i.e. from all neighbouring countries that operate nuclear power plants. In return, the Austrian measured values are made available to the foreign authorities. In addition, radiation measurement data from almost all Member States of the European Community are now available via the European data platform EURDEP.