New RadoNorm Publication in WP2

written by Nadja Železnik
10. Jan 2025
Categories: Papers

A new publication by J. Vives i Batlle (SCK CEN), as part of WP2 (Exposure) of RadoNorm, was published in Journal of Environmental Radioactivity. The paper titled “Modelling soil – Vegetation – Atmospheric interactions of radon products in a Belgian Scots pine forest site” discusses a new dynamic modelling approach, which has been developed to study the transfer of Ra-226, radon and its decay products between soil, forest vegetation and the atmosphere. The approach also calculates the doses to non-human biota inhabiting the forest floor. This new model has been applied to a demonstration case, namely, a Scots pine forest site located in the Grote Nete Valley in the Belgian Campine region.

The work highlights and corrects important limitations found in some previous assessment models: focusing on root uptake (thus ignoring atmospheric of radon products from soil outgassing), not considering the slow uptake of radionuclides by the tree (which leads to different dose rates for young and mature trees), and not calculating explicitly the radiation doses to tree foliage. A process-based, dynamic model such as this yields better results than a non-dynamic model based on transfer parameters. The improved model realism makes for a better assessment tool to deal with the impact of radon and its progeny in forests, and to evaluate options in remediation activities planned for landfill sites with radium hotspots, where unnecessary conservatism can come at an added cost.

A preprint of the manuscript can be found on the repository here.

This and more publications can be found on the RadoNorm website.

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