Working aid for radioactive contaminated sites. Recommendation of BMUV, BfS and the appropriate state authorities

On 5 December 2013, the Council of the European Union adopted Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM laying down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation. This directive was implemented nationally with the introduction of the Radiation Protection Act of 27 June 2017 and the Radiation Protection Ordinance of 29 November 2018. With the implementation of the EURATOM Directive, regulations on radioactive contaminated sites were established in German law for the first time. In order to simplify administrative action, the Federal Government and the Feral States agreed when adopting the new radiation protection legislation to draw up a working aid to facilitate the practical application of the Radiation Protection Act and the Radiation Protection Ordinance for the subject area of radioactive contaminated sites. For reasons of harmonisation and comparability, the regulations for radioactive contaminated sites are essentially based on the conceptual approach of the regulations for non-radioactive contaminated sites of the Federal Soil Protection Act. At the instigation of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection and under the leadership of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, a working group on radioactive contaminated sites was established in 2019 with the aim of developing a working aid for radioactive contaminated sites. The working group is made up of radiation protection experts from the Federal Government and the Länder as well as representatives from the soil protection sector (non-radioactive contaminated sites). The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection and the Federal Office for Radiation Protection recommend the working aid on radioactive contaminated sites for practical radiation protection enforcement. At its meeting on 16 November 2022, the Technical Committee on Radiation Protection approved the use of this work aid for enforcement.