Report of the consultants' meeting on rapid instrumental and separation methods for monitoring radionuclides in food and environmental samples, Vienna, 5-9 September 1988

The experience gained from the post Chernobyl activities revealed that there was a need to screen a large number of samples under these post accident situations as well as the need to get information quickly so that decisions about accident response and food control can be made. The participants of the Consultants' Meeting on MEF recommended that the Agency ''initiates a co-ordinated research programme (CRP) on collecting and developing, as necessary, rapid methods for measuring radioactivity in food and environmental samples to facilitate international trade, for emergency cases, etc''. Interest in the release of radionuclides to the environment, especially to the foodchain, has been heightened by recent nuclear incidents. In the intermediate and late post-accident period, where the interest is in food control rather than evacuation and sheltering, rapid methods would be useful for screening purposes as well as providing timely information and easing overload. Development of new methods would also have application for routine monitoring of environmental samples. The rapid radiochemical and instrumental methods are intended to permit a determination of radionuclides at a concentration of at least one order of magnitude below those specified for food in the WHO publication ''Derived Intervention Levels for Radionuclides in Food'' and the IAEA publication, ''Safety Series 81''. The rapid methods could include rapid screening methods for determination of the approximate or gross radionuclide content in samples, very rapid methods for a more reliable determination or rapid methods for a reasonable accurate determination of the radionuclide content. The specifications for each type of method were outlined. It was emphasized that the overall objectives of developing rapid methods should be achieved with the minimum sacrifice in reliability, practicality and economy. Refs, figs and tabs