Radiation protection serves the purpose of protecting the staff, the population and the areas surrounding nuclear plants against ionising radiation. The key aspects here are radiation measurement technology and radioanalytical work.
Liquid radioactive substances from Swiss nuclear facilities that reach the Aare and Rhine rivers are well below the officially defined emission limits. This is the conclusion reached by ENSI in the Eighth Swiss Report on the Implementation of the OSPAR Recommendation on Radioactive Discharges.
In future, there are to be no further contradictions between neighbouring countries with regard to emergency measures in the immediate aftermath of serious nuclear accidents. Europe’s two most important bodies for nuclear oversight and radiation protection have developed the so-called HERCA-WENRA Approach in order to bring about harmonisation.
Rosa Sardella is to be the new Director of the Division for Radiation Protection at ENSI. The ENSI Board has appointed the 47 year old, who holds a doctorate in nuclear engineering, as the successor to retiring Division Director Georges Piller, effective July 1st, 2016.
ENSI welcomed the international experts belonging to a working group of the Heads of European Radiological Protection Competent Authorities (HERCA). At the meeting in Brugg, almost 30 specialists discussed subjects including the implementation of the European radiation protection directive.
With high doses, the severity of the radiation effect increases beyond that of a threshold dose. While the chances of survival up to a certain radiation exposure remain unaffected, very high doses, such as those measured on the Chernobyl site after the reactor accident, will lead to death within a very short time period.
The discovery of X-rays triggered an explosion of interest. The euphoria was, however, tempered as more and more information became known about the side effects. Radiation biology examines how radiation acts on cells and tissues.
The reactor pressure vessel is enclosed by the containment as the third barrier. This consists of a steel primary containment and a concrete secondary containment.
