1. National progress in establishing national radon measuring capacity
Regional Workshop on Experiences of Corrective and Protective Radon Measures
Yerevan, Armenia, October 2017
IAEA RER RER/9/136 –
National progress in establishing national radon measuring capacity
Activities related to radon in Hungary
Zsolt Homoki
National Public Health Institute (NPHI)
Public Health Directorate
Department of Radiobiology and Radiohygiene

2. What happened before 2014?
There were two larger national radon surveys in Hungary
made by NRIRR at sampling points in 863 settlements
made by RAD Laboratory at 15,277sampling points in 424 settlements.
2003 proposal for a Ministry of Health to regulate in decree
the acceptable level of indoor radon concentration (recommendation of ICRP 65)
the permitted level of the radioactivity of building material (using index value)
categorization of building sites according to the soil gas radon conc. to decide the necessity of prevention action
The proposal was refused referring to the lack of Radon Map (detailed information about the dose to population from radon inhalation and its spatial variation).
new radon survey (NRIRR) at 280 sampling points in 248 settlements
1990’ A few independent laboratories are able to measure radon in Hungary .
A few unsuccessful meetings were arranged with the aim of establishing a consortium for new national radon survey among these laboratories. The reason was the lack of financial support.
2012 Annual environmental radiation monitoring program of the health sector was extended by indoor radon measurements. (The capacity of the network is weak.)
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

3. What happened between 2014 and 2017? I/III
December - publish of new EU BSS (Directive 2013/59/EURATOM)
2014 April - First IAEA workshop on Radon Action Plan (RAP)
Started to get knowledge about the RAP,
- to collect the available information and results of former activity related to radon issue,
- to make inner conversation about the „good strategy”
- to draw new Radon Map.
2015 March Started to renew the collaboration with other radon experts to provide scientific background to the required RAP.
The argue was: This task is constrained by the EU.
A chance to join our results to see how many data have we got at national level.
April Preparation of new radon survey in kindergartens by University of Pannonia collaborating with others.
Sept The first meeting for radon experts in Budapest with aim of initiate the active collaboration.
Nov. Join our results and publish it on International Workshop on the European Atlas of Natural Radiation, IWEANR 2015 by Katalin Zs. Sz.
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

4. What happened between 2014 and 2017? II/III
2016 March Second meeting for radon experts extended with the representatives of ministry, metrological institute, radon detector supplier com. (Radosys).
May Third meeting – during the V. Terrestrial Radioisotopes in Environment International Conference on Environmental Protection (TREICEP).
Presentation of concept of Hungarian RAP and new national radon survey.
Created a national data base from the available results!
Aug. Proposal for the RAP – first draft version prepared by the NRIRR.
Nov. Joining of all available indoor radon data and sent them to EC JRC to refresh their indoor radon database about Hungary. (published in Jan 2017)
Start of a new mini pilot radon survey in kindergartens and day-nurseries.
The national metrological authority finished the establishment of a radon calibration chamber.
2017 Feb. Publish a review about the radiation level in Hungarian homes in Journal of Environmental Radioactivity. (results of NRIRR from )
New outdoor and indoor gamma dose rate and indoor radon map!
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

5. What happened between 2014 and 2017? III/III
2017 Sept Restart the discussion about the required Hungarian RAP.
Oct. Renewed the draft RAP – under discussion among ministries.
2018 Feb. Publish of Hungarian RAP!
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

6. Outdoor gamma dose rate map of Hungary (2016)
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

7. Indoor gamma dose rate map of Hungary (2016)
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

8. Indoor radon concentration map of Hungary (2016)
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

9. Changes in the Hungarian legislation I/II
Govt. decree 487/ (XII. 30.) Korm. on the protection against ionizing radiation and the corresponding licensing, reporting (notification) and inspection system
New legislative rules: step into force on 1st of January 2016
indoor exposure situation categorized as existing exposure situation
§ 12 (1) the radon is determined as a possible source of occupational exposure and
therefore it must be taken into account by personal dose calculation
§ 22 (1) the employer is responsible to check the radon levels at the workplace and
to make efforts to reduce its level, if it is above the reference level
§ 22 (5) if the radon concentration exceeds the reference level despite the radon,
reduction action, its level shall be monitored on regular basis
§ 49 (2) The reference level applying to average radon conc. for dwellings,
workplaces and buildings with public access is 300 Bq/m3 disregarding to the age of the building.
It shall be overviewed in every 4 years according to the results of RAP.
§ 50 (1-2) The reference level applying to indoor external exposure to gamma
radiation emitted by building materials, in addition to outdoor external exposure, shall be 1 mSv per year.
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

10. Changes in the Hungarian legislation II/II
Govt. Decree 489/2015. (XII. 30.) Korm. on monitoring radiation conditions relevant for public exposure of natural and artificial origin and on the scope of quantities obligatory to be measured Amendment III- IV.
the monitoring programs was extended by the measurement of indoor radon level, radon conc. in drinking water and determination of indicative dose
Govt. Decree 201/2001. (X. 25.) Korm. On the quality standards and monitoring of drinking waters was modified by the Govt. Decree 313/2015. Korm.
§ radiation of drinking water shall be examined in 3 consecutive years
Amend. I. parametric value of radon conc. in drinking water sets 100 Bq/l
Amend. III. guidance for determination of indicative dose
If gross beta activity is < 1 Bq/l and gross alpha activity is < 100 mBq/l, than the indicative dose should be < 0,1 mSv/year. In case of exceeded limit, isotope specific examination required. The radioactivity conc. shall be checked for the following isotopes:
natural origin: 238U, 234U, 226Ra, 228Ra, 210Pb, 210Po
artificial origin: 14C, 90Sr, 239/240Pu, 241Am, 60Co, 134Cs, 137Cs, 131I
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

11. Hungarian National Radon Action Plan I/IV
Draft!
Hungarian National Radon Action Plan I/IV
Content of the RAP:
Main goal of the strategy
Epidemiological survey
National representative radon survey
Corrective and preventive actions
Communication and public information strategy
Governmental supporting system
Connections to other relevant programs
Provisions on review
Responsibilities and coordination mechanism
How will step into force?
According to the actual statement, the Ministry of Human Capacity will submit proposal for a governmental decree and the RAP will be the supplement of this decree.
The proposal determines tasks with deadline and define the responsible Ministries.
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

12. Communication to the public
The former National Institute of Environmental Health created a document library on its web-site to inform the public in several topics.
Here can be found the ‚Home and health’ brochure which contains information about the indoor radon too.
Home and health brochure in 2007
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

13. Education of radon experts of the future
In Hungary, there are 3 universities where the radon is part of the training of environmental engineers and several diploma and PhD thesis born dealing with radon issue.
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

14. Hungarian Radon Survey 2015 – Pannon University
Organogram of the participants
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

15. Hungarian Radon Survey 2015 – participation intention
PE-RRI SZIE
Veszprém county
Accepted 24
49 %
Refused 3
6 %
No response 22
45 %
Pest, Fejér, KE, Nógrád county
Accepted 32
66 %
Refused 5
10 %
No response 11
24 %
Other transdanubian settlements
Accepted 23
22 %
Refused
0,0 %
No response 84
78 %
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

16. Hungarian Radon Survey 2015 – Overview
Start of the survey: in Aug by sending letters to the majors of settlements
Sampling points: 99 kindergartens located in 89 settlements
Sampling period: 4 × 3 months (totally one year) Sept – Sept. 2016
Measurements types: - indoor radon/thoron concentration
indoor gamma dose rate
soil gas radon concentration
gamma ray spectrometry of soil samples
radon/thoron exhalation
Detector types: - CR-39 for radon and thoron measurements
- TLDs (CaSO4:Tm) for gamma dose rate
active monitors (AlphaGuard, RAD7, Pylon WLx, EQF)
active dose rate meter: Automess 6150
Results: the evaluation process did not finished yet!
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

17. Hungarian Radon Survey 2015 – Web-page
An own web-site was dedicated to this survey made by Zoltán Sas (Uni. of Pannonia).
The function of this site was to provide general information about:
the radon
the concept and methodology of the survey
radon reduction methods
and to share documents among the participants
But the development of the web-site was stopped in 2015.
And finally it was not opened for the general public.
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

18. Radiation survey in Budapest (2017-2018) - NPHI
Governmental maintained kindergartens and day-nurseries were chosen as the target of the pilot survey. We considered the following aspects:
large number of people reside within these buildings (children, attendants)
the government (major) is responsible to check the indoor radiation
easy to access (simple official background infrastructure)
The number of the sampling point should be restricted because of lack of free human capacity within our division.
Preparation of the survey
We sent letter to the major of district 9th and 22th of Budapest in March (Our center is placed in the district 9th and our department placed in the district 22th.)
We got answer and approval only from the former major. In the district 9th can be found 10 kindergartens and 5 day-nurseries.
We organized meetings with the directors of the day-nurseries and kindergartens in January and February of 2017 to delineate :
What is necessary to know about the survey and what is needed to do from their side?
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

19. Locations of the sampling points in Budapest
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

20. 1,208 children and 277 attendants.
Building characteristics
The examined buildings are mainly ground floor or two-stories without cellar.
They were built mostly between 1957 – Therefore they are years old.
Their typical wall materials are concrete and/or brick (burned clay).
The windows were changed partly or completely in most of the buildings in framework of a thermal retrofitting renovation.
The presence of slag within the floor space is not known. This fact can be an important. Because the built-in slag with higher radioactivity could increase the indoor gamma dose rate and the radon concentration as well.
Residents
Altogether (within the 10 kindergartens and 5 day-nurseries) reside
1,208 children and 277 attendants.
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

21. Methods, timetable Type of detectors:
Radon detector alpha track detector (CR-39) Radosys products, in RSKS chamber
Gamma detector TLD (CaSO4:Tm) PANASONIC UD 804 AS
Sampling period: quarter / detector totally: one year
First quarter: February/March 2017 – May 2017 Spring
Second quarter: May 2017 – September 2017 Summer
Third quarter: September 2017 – December 2017 Autumn
Fourth quarter: December 2017 – February 2018 Winter
Distribution of detectors: manually
Sampling points: totally 63
2 - 6 rooms per buildings
at the top of wardrobes or shelves in play rooms or in offices
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

22. Results of gamma-radiation measurements
The national averages in Hungary (for comparison): [H*(10)]
Average OUTDOOR gamma dose rate ~ 100 nSv/h (56 – 156 nSv/h)
Average INDOOR gamma dose rate ~ 155 nSv/h (58 – 508 nSv/h)
Average Range
~ 130 nSv/h 76 – 204 nSv/h
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

23. Results of radon concentration measurements
The national averages in Hungary (for comparison):
Based on the measurements of NRIRR ( ) ~ 128 Bq/m3
Based on the measurements of RAD Laboratory ( ) ~ 133 Bq/m3
Average Range
Spring: Bq/m – 202 Bq/m3
Summer: 52 Bq/m – 154 Bq/m3
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017

24. Thank you for your kind attention!
Yerevan, Armenia, Oct 2017