Environmental Monitoring according to the Euratom treaty of the environmental radioactivity in Sweden, 1997 to 2001

This report presents the results for the years 1997 to 2001 from the environmental monitoring required by article 36 of the Euratom treaty. A monitoring programme has existed since the late 1950s. Monitoring is currently performed continuously on radioactive substances in outdoor air and of ambient gamma dose rates outdoors. Regular measurements are performed on radioactive substances in surface and drinking water, milk, mixed diet and in the human body. The programme considers both naturally and artificially occurring radioactive substances, with an emphasis on the latter. The internal radiation dose from 137Cs, 90Sr and 3H in foodstuffs for year 2001 was 0.005 mSv/year for an average Swede; 0.0002 mSv/year came from 137Cs, 90Sr and 3H in drinking water and 0.0006 mSv/year came from 137Cs and 90Sr in milk. Large variations occur in doses; for persons consuming nature food products, the internal dose can be up to 0.2 mSv/year in fall-out stricken areas. The internal dose for an average Swede for the year 2001 from inhaled and ingested artificially occurring radioactive substances was 0.1 percent of the total dose received. An average Swede is estimated to get 4 mSv/year from the sum of all radiation