Digital version of the European Atlas of natural radiation

Abstract

The European Atlas of Natural Radiation is a collection of maps displaying the levels of natural radioactivity caused by different sources. It has been developed and is being maintained by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, in line with its mission, based on the Euratom Treaty: to collect, validate and report information on radioactivity levels in the environment of the EU Member States. This work describes the first version of the European Atlas of Natural Radiation, available in digital format through a web portal, as well as the methodology and results for the maps already developed. So far the digital Atlas contains: an annual cosmic-ray dose map; a map of indoor radon concentration; maps of uranium, thorium and potassium concentration in soil and in bedrock; a terrestrial gamma dose rate map; and a map of soil permeability. Through these maps, the public will be able to: familiarize itself with natural environmental radioactivity; be informed about the levels of natural radioactivity caused by different sources; have a more balanced view of the annual dose received by the European population, to which natural radioactivity is the largest contributor; and make direct comparisons between doses from natural sources of ionizing radiation and those from man-made (artificial) ones, hence, to better assess the latter. Work will continue on the European Geogenic Radon Map and on estimating the annual dose that the public may receive from natural radioactivity, by combining all the information from the different maps. More maps could be added to the Atlas, such us radon in outdoor air and in water and concentration of radionuclides in water, even if these sources usually contribute less to the total exposure.

Keywords: Digital Atlas; Europe; Mapping; Natural radiation.

Fig. 1

Schema of the REMon website.

Fig. 2

Number of measurements per 10 km × 10 km cell of long-term radon concentration in ground-floor rooms of 32 European countries (ETRS89-LAEA frame). Latest update, August 2017. Source: European Commission, DG JRC (Tollefsen et al., 2010-03).

Fig. 3

Arithmetic means (AM) over 10 km × 10 km cells of long-term radon concentration in ground-floor rooms of 32 European countries (ETRS89-LAEA frame). Latest update, August 2017. (The cell mean is neither an estimate of the population exposure, nor of the risk.) Source: European Commission, DG JRC (Tollefsen et al., 2010-02).

Fig. 4

Quantile-quantile plots of K₂O, ln-U and ln-Th of FOREGS Topsoil and GEMAS (Ap + Gr) databases considering a normal distribution.

Fig. 5

Variograms (black line with points) and model (blue line) considering K₂O, ln-U and ln-Th data of the merged database. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

Fig. 6

Map of U (geometrical mean-GM) obtained by the kriging method on a 10 km × 10 km GISCO-LAEA grid using the merged database (ETRS89-LAEA frame).

Fig. 7

Map of Th (geometrical mean-GM) obtained by the kriging method on a 10 km × 10 km GISCO-LAEA grid using the merged database (ETRS89-LAEA frame).

Fig. 8

Map of K₂O obtained by the kriging method on a 10 km × 10 km GISCO-LAEA grid using the merged database (ETRS89-LAEA frame).

Fig. 9

European map of terrestrial gamma dose rate on a 10 km × 10 km GISCO-LAEA grid (ETRS89-LAEA frame). Latest update, March 2017. Source: European Commission, DG JRC (Tollefsen et al., 2016-07).

Fig. 10

Map of uranium concentration in bedrock (ETRS89-LAEA frame). Latest update, April 2017. Source: European Commission, DG JRC (Tollefsen et al., 2016-08).

Fig. 11

Map of thorium concentration in bedrock (ETRS89-LAEA frame). Latest update, April 2017. Source: European Commission, DG JRC (Tollefsen et al., 2016-09).

Fig. 12

Map of potassium concentration in bedrock (ETRS89-LAEA frame). Latest update, April 2017. Source: European Commission, DG JRC (Tollefsen et al., 2016-10).

Fig. 13

Map of permeability displaying the percentage of soil fine fraction (ETRS89-LAEA frame). Latest update, April 2017. Source: European Commission, DG JRC (Tollefsen et al., 2016-11).