Clearance Levels in Germany: How Do We Know They Are Right?

Abstract

Clearance levels (CL) in Germany have been implemented in the Radiation Protection Ordinance (RPO / Strahlenschutzverordnung StrlSchV) of July 2001 which transforms the EURATOM Basic Safety Standards (BSS) into national legislation. Separate clearance options exist e.g. for metals, building rubble, liquids, buildings, wastes and sites. Meanwhile, the CL have found extensive application at a number of operating nuclear installations in Germany, in particular at those under decommissioning or those which will enter the decommissioning phase soon. The CL are based on extensive studies and have been approved by the competent bodies. Yet there has been and is an ongoing discussion in the interested public whether the basis for the CL is correct. In order to establish a scientific basis for this discussion, a Working Group on Clearance within the German Commission on Radiological Protection (SSK) has been established and studies have been launched by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Key issues comprise inter alia: • comparison of German and international CL (scope, values, method of their derivation, etc.); • review and update of German CL for clearance for disposal as a consequence of changes in the (conventional) waste law; • leaching behaviour of relevant radionuclides from cleared building rubble, especially for the long-term behaviour of radionuclides relevant in contaminated concrete of NPPs; • the possibility of multiple exposure for a single individual from various clearance options; • evaluation of the collective dose which may be caused by clearance in Germany and comparison with the reference value of 1 manSv/a.