Development of a national environmental monitoring programme for radionuclides - Sweden

In parallel with the enforcement of the Environmental Code in 1999, the Swedish parliament adopted 15 national environmental quality objectives that aim towards a sustainable development for the country. The government's primary environmental objective is to hand over a society to the next generation in which the major environmental problems have been solved. One of the quality objectives is 'A Safe Radiation Environment' of which the Swedish Radiation Protection Authority (SSI) is the responsible authority. In order to follow the progress towards this objective SSI is currently developing a national environmental monitoring and assessment programme for radionuclides. Many countries have monitoring programmes in the vicinity of nuclear power plants and nuclear industries, as Sweden has also had for many years. The current Swedish effort is a development beyond the local monitoring programmes to incorporate radiation assessment at a national level. This includes long-term issues such as identification of ecological processes that can concentrate radionuclides, and assessment of activities other than nuclear industries that lead to radioactive releases. One of the expected results of this monitoring programme is an improved framework for assessing the dynamics and impact of radionuclide transfer and containment in different ecosystems. This paper will focus on the development and implementation of the framework for a national monitoring programme, include some examples of environments that have been identified as areas of particular concern, and describe an approach to protect species with different ecological prerequisites. (author)