The paper presents the latest collection of activity concentration data of natural radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th and 4 K) in building materials. This database contains about 24200 samples of both bulk materials and their constituents (bricks, concrete, cement, aggregates) and superficial materials used in most European Union Member States and some European countries. This collection also includes radiological information about some NORM residues and by-products (by-product gypsum, metallurgical slags, fly and bottom ashes and red mud) which can be of radiological concern if recycled in building materials as secondary raw materials. Moreover, radon emanation and radon exhalation rate data are reported for bricks and concrete.

A short review on the performance of radiometric techniques in measuring radionuclides in drinking water as compared to that of Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass-Spectrometry (ICP-MS) is presented. Desirable Limits of Detection (LoDs) for main radionuclides, as dictated by their radiotoxicity and current regulations, are discussed. As regards radiation measurements, both traditional techniques, such as γ-spectrometry and α-spectrometry coupled to radiochemical treatment, and relatively novel procedures, like ultra-low level Liquid Scintillation Counting (LSC), are taken into account. The major merits and drawbacks brought about by ICP-MS in the quantification of radionuclides are also illustrated. The review is based on both experimental results from the authors' laboratories as well as on literature data.

Considerable levels of radium were detected in a certain fraction of the Estonian drinking water supply network. Some of these waterworks have treatment systems for the removal of (mainly) iron and manganese from drinking water. Three of these waterworks and another one equipped with a radium removal pilot plant were examined, and a specific study was conducted in order to assess the environmental compatibility of effluents and residues produced in the plants. (226)Ra and (228)Ra activity concentrations were analysed in both liquid (backwash water) and solid (sand filter and sediment) materials to evaluate their compliance, from the radiological point of view, with current Estonian legislation and international technical documents that propose reference levels for radium in effluents and residues. Also with regard to water treatment by-products, a preliminary analysis was done of possible consequences of the transposition of the European Basic Safety Standards Draft into Estonian law. Radium removal efficiency was also tested in the same plants. Iron and manganese treatment plants turned out to be scarcely effective, whilst the radium mitigation pilot plant showed a promising performance.

Until now various methods have been developed in several countries to evaluate and classify building materials on the basis of their natural radioactivity. Some of them also account for the contribution of radon to the annual effective dose. In this paper the authors review these methods and apply some of them to the contents of a database of natural radioactivity of building materials in the European Union, that was established by the authors. Based on the activity concentration index introduced by the EC Radiation Protection 112 guidance, IRP112, a new index is also proposed, that accounts for the radon contribution to the effective dose indoors. The results obtained with different indexes are compared in order to evaluate the impact of the new Basic Safety Standards Directive implementation in the EU Member States, particularly in Countries where radioactivity in building materials is already regulated. Moreover, some non EU screening tools were considered to provide suggestions for possible future improvements of the EC IRP112.

Using a wide database collected in the last 10 years, the authors have calculated the activity concentration index I for many building materials in the European Union. Suggested by a European technical guidance document, the index I has recently been adopted as a screening tool in the proposal for the new Euratom basic safety standards directive. The paper analyses the possible implications of the choice of different parameters for the computation of index I, i.e. background to be subtracted, dose criteria, etc. With the collected data an independent assessment of gamma doses was also made with an ISS room model, choosing reasonable hypotheses on the use of materials. The results of the two approaches, i.e. index I and a room model, were compared.

The authors set up a database of activity concentration measurements of natural radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th and 40K) in building material. It contains about 10,000 samples of both bulk material (bricks, concrete, cement, natural- and phosphogypsum, sedimentary and igneous bulk stones) and superficial material (igneous and metamorphic stones) used in the construction industry in most European Union Member States. The database allowed the authors to calculate the activity concentration index I – suggested by a European technical guidance document and recently used as a basis for elaborating the draft Euratom Basic Safety Standards Directive – for bricks, concrete and phosphogypsum used in the European Union. Moreover, the percentage could be assessed of materials possibly subject to restrictions, if either of the two dose criteria proposed by the technical guidance were to be adopted.

In some areas of Estonia, groundwater contains a significant number of natural radionuclides, especially radium isotopes, which may cause radiation protection concern depending on the geological structure of the aquifer. Indeed, the parametric value of 0.1 mSv y⁻¹ for the total indicative dose established by European Directive 98/83/EC, adopted as a limit value in Estonian national legislation, is often exceeded. A Twinning Project between Estonia and Italy was carried out within the framework of the Estonian Transition Facility Programme, sponsored by the European Union. Its aims were to assess the radiological situation of Estonian groundwater and related health consequences. The first step was a study of Estonian aqueducts and the population served by them, and a thorough analysis of the radiological database for drinking water, from which the relevant effective doses for the population were obtained. Particular attention was devoted to doses to children and infants. Correlations between the chemical parameters were investigated, in order to suggest the best possible analytical approach. Lastly, a monitoring strategy, i.e. sampling points and sampling frequencies, was proposed.

In recent years, cases of cancer have been reported among Italian troops involved in the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Kosovo. By the end of 2000, the Italian Minister of Defence appointed a Committee of Enquiry to gain a scientifically sound, reliable picture of the health consequences of the exposure of military personnel to Depleted Uranium (DU) and to assess the possible etiologic role DU may have played in the occurrence of specific pathologies. The Committee found a statistically significant excess of Hodgkin's lymphomas, but up to now the lack of thorough knowledge about internal uranium exposure and its potential effects has prevented us from determining whether lymphatic cancers are correlated with DU exposure. The Committee of Enquiry issued several recommendations, in particular: 1) to follow up the cohort of military personnel deployed in Bosnia and Kosovo and monitor the incidence of tumours and the evolution of the ensuing epidemiological scenario, and 2) to list the individuals that could have been exposed to DU for different reasons and enrol them in a long-term programme of medical surveillance. A decision was also made to quantify levels of U and other potentially toxic elements as well as to measure the isotopic ratio U/U for the assessment of DU in biological samples of soldiers deployed in war theatres where presumably DU weapons were used, together with tentative indexes of contact with possible genotoxic factors. In this paper a general description is given of the activities carried out by the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS, in the Italian acronym) in compliance with both the recommendations of the Committee of Enquiry and the decision to quantify potential exposures.

Environmental radioactivity research is more advanced for the 238U series than for the 232Th series, for a number of reasons. One reason is that some radionuclides of the 232Th series are more difficult to measure than the corresponding isotopes in the 238U series, and measurement techniques are less widely available. The 232Th series population doses, however, are sometimes significant. This paper analyses some main radionuclides in the 232Th series in comparison with corresponding nuclides in the 238U series, with regard to measurement techniques, dose coefficients and regulation needs.

In 2002 the Italian Standardisation Organisation (UNI) - Nuclear Energy Commission (UNICEN) - appointed a working group with the main task of writing a set of standards on drinking water measurements. To date two standards have been designed, namely, for total alpha- and beta-activity, and 222Rn. Further procedures are under development for measuring 226Ra and U isotopes, and gamma-emitting radionuclides in water. The paper gives an overview of these standards, both developed and under study, with special attention to the validation of the methods.

A representative National Survey to evaluate the exposure to natural sources of ionizing radiation in dwellings was conducted in all the 21 Italian Regions from 1989 to 1998, and the complete results are reported in this paper. Radon concentration was measured for two consecutive 6-month periods (generally covering the spring-summer and autumn-winter seasons) in one room, usually the main bedroom, of each surveyed dwelling. Validated radon concentration measurements were obtained for a total of 5631 dwellings, distributed in 232 towns (all the 50 towns with more than 100,000 inhabitants and 182 randomly sampled smaller towns). The national average, weighted by the population of each Region, of the annual radon concentration is 70 Bq m(-3), the geometric mean is 52 Bq m-3, and the geometric standard deviation is 2.1. The fraction of dwellings with a radon concentration exceeding the reference levels of 150, 200, 400, and 600Bq m(-3) are 7.7%, 4.1%, 0.9%, and 0.2%, respectively. Regional averages ranged from about 25 Bq m-3 to about 120 Bq m-3. The uncertainty of regional values can be relevant in the case of small Regions, where few small towns were sampled, however such uncertainties do not affect national values significantly. A log-normal model underestimates the fraction of dwellings with high radon concentration and needs to be adjusted to obtain a better fitting. Two complete 6-month measurements were obtained for 4742 dwellings. The regional values of the geometric mean and of the geometric standard deviation of the winter/summer ratio ranged from 0.81 to 2.58 and from 1.32 to 1.88, respectively. The corresponding national values were 1.23 and 1.71, respectively. These results and their implications are discussed in the paper. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In 2000, cases of cancer have been reported among Italian troops involved in the peace-keeping missions in Bosnia and Kosovo, and a Committee of Enquiry was set-up to study all these cases of tumour pathology and to verify the existence of a correlation, if any, with depleted uranium (DU) weapons used in the area. This paper reviews the results of epidemiological finding, indicating that the only type of cancer for which a statistically significant excess was observed was Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). Referring to these data, a critical review of the current knowledge and postulates on uranium exposure is also presented to clarify why, up to this time, several problems have prevented from ascertaining whether or not lymphatic cancers are correlated with DU exposure. Moreover, the paper analyses and discusses up-to-date monitoring results in the contaminated countries and reviews advanced techniques to detect DU in biological and environmental samples, including gamma spectroscopy, a relatively manageable technique.

This paper is devoted to exposure of the embryo and the foetus due to ingestion of natural radionuclides by the mother. Using the dose coefficients of ICRP Recommendation 88, an assessment is made of the activities of the main natural radionuclides and depleted uranium ingested acutely or chronically by the mother or future mother at different stages of pregnancy and before conception, which give an effective dose of 1 mSv to the offspring. Results show that, in particular, chronic intake of some natural radionuclides in the diet could be of concern for the offspring.

This paper analyses and discusses how the Italian legislation implementing Title VII of the Council Directive 96/29/Euratom deals with natural radioactivity of terrestrial origin in work environments, that is, both radon in workplaces and work activities with naturally occurring radioactive materials. Particular attention is given to the chosen values for Action Levels, the time frames for obligations - that is measurements, eventual application of corrective measures and, if necessary, application of the radiation protection system for practices - and their underlying rationale. Some qualifying choices of the legislation are highlighted and discussed. Possible difficulties in enforcing it are also analysed and some final remarks are given to promote debate among experts. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In recent years, cases of cancer have been reported among Italian troops' involved in the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Kosovo. The Italian Minister of Defence set up a Commission to gain a scientific and reliable picture about the health situation of military personnel and to investigate on a possible etiologic role of depleted uranium (DU). The Commission has found a statistically significant excess of Hodgkin's lymphomas. Unfortunately, up to this time, lack of complete information on location and duty of the troops has prevented us from ascertaining whether lymphatic cancers are correlated or not with DU exposure. But in any case, some radiation protection remarks emerge on the basis of biological and epidemiological evidence, not only concerning military personnel but the Balkan population too. In this paper, starting from the Italian troops epidemiological findings, a critical review of knowledge and postulates about uranium exposure is presented. Moreover, an evaluation of the dose to the local population, particularly to the embryo/foetus, due to environmental exposure is carried out.