Ensuring that people are adequately protected from radiation while continuing to benefit from its uses is a central part of the IAEA’s mission. To build Member State capacity to control exposure of the public to radiation, IAEA experts recently helped a group of over 40 officials from 26 Member States in the Asia and the Pacific region gain knowledge to develop and strengthen their countries’ environmental monitoring capabilities.
From 15 January to 19 January 2018 at IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Member State representatives attended expert presentations and learnt best practices in the field of environmental monitoring programmes (EMPs). IAEA staff presented methodologies for radionuclide measurement and their associated radiation dose assessment procedures, and explained the origin and evolution of major international guidelines like the WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality and the Joint FAO-IAEA Criteria for Radionuclide Activity Concentrations for Food and Drinking Water. Abdullah Matooq Althomali (K.A.Care, Saudi Arabia), said “The Overview of Environmental Monitoring improved my understanding and provided a better vision of what we are supposed to start with and the different criteria to consider including the baseline study and its different approaches. It is also very useful to see other countries’ experiences regarding monitoring and laboratories.”
