Thailand radiation monitoring program: a preliminary result analysis of the country's background radiation

Environmental monitoring in the context of nuclear-related activities refers to the measurements of ambient gamma dose rates in the environment and radioactivity in air, water, soil etc. Since nuclear power programme in Thailand has not yet been in place, the environment surveillance programme in Thailand currently focuses on establishing 'baseline' environmental radiation levels and radioactivity for the purpose of establishing impacts of future possible sources such as nuclear accidents. The objective is to assure assessments concerning radiation safety for the environment and public. At present, Thailand's monitoring programme operates eight fixed monitoring stations installed in various regions of Thailand; four of which have been in operation since late 2010. The ambient gamma dose rate data are routinely collected from those four real-time monitoring stations starting from October 2010 to September 2011 as described in this study. Also, the radiation data from each station are statically analysed. This study found that the dose rate from the stations located in north and north-east of Thailand showed an apparent tendency towards a diurnal pattern. With these routine data, the average exposure dose rate was possible to estimate in Thailand. Additionally, the assessment of the equivalent dose from natural background radiation was estimated. (authors)