Long-standing soil pollution emanating from mining activities, and their radiological assessment

The Federal Radiation Protection Office (BfS) identified the areas suspected or known to bear long-standing soil pollution with above-average radioactivity levels. These areas are primarily sites of the uranium industry, but also areas of abandoned mines in the Erzgebirge, the Mansfeld Kupferschiefer, and the Freital-Doehlen hard coal deposits. Other areas in the scanning programme include areas with unusual gamma radiation levels detected by aerial monitoring in the 1980s. Based on the available data, ''suspected'' areas covering a surface of approx. 1.500 km-2 all in all in Saxonia, Thuringia and Sachsen-Anhalt were earmarked as priority areas for radiological scanning. This definition of suspected areas also implies that beyond these areas, contaminated structures or surfaces are expected to be sparse, and radiologically insignificant. The subsequent project task was to verify the radioactive contamination in the suspected areas. (orig./DG)