Research on environmental radiation being carried out as part of expected nuclear renaissance

Research on environmental radiation is described from the viewpoint of the expected nuclear renaissance. Research is ongoing in the following areas; to develop a radiation detector made of new materials and/or based on advanced measurement methods, to clarify the distribution of radioactivity in the environment and to analyze the behavior of nuclides in the atmosphere and aquatic regions, and to determine the biological effects of environmental radiation on animals and plants and the dose to which humans are subjected. In particular, continual measurements of background radiation and the analysis of its variation, measurements and the observation of the accumulation trends of artificial radionuclides in the environment, naturally occurring radioactive materials, radon and its decay products, and the exposure of airline crew and astronauts to cosmic radiation are described. (author)