Council Directive 2013/51/EuratomShow full title

ANNEX III MONITORING FOR INDICATIVE DOSE AND ANALYTICAL PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS

1. Monitoring for compliance with the ID

Member States may use various reliable screening strategies to indicate the presence of radioactivity in water intended for human consumption. These strategies may include screening for certain radionuclides, or screening for an individual radionuclide, or gross alpha activity or gross beta activity screening.

(a) screening for certain radionuclides, or screening for an individual radionuclide

If one of the activity concentrations exceeds 20 % of the corresponding derived value or the tritium concentration exceeds its parametric value listed in Annex I, an analysis of additional radionuclides shall be required. The radionuclides to be measured shall be defined by Member States taking into account all relevant information about likely sources of radioactivity.

(b) screening strategies for gross alpha activity and gross beta activity

Member States may use screening strategies for gross alpha activity and gross beta activity(1) to monitor for the parametric indicator value for ID.

For this purpose gross alpha activity or gross beta activity screening levels shall be set. The recommended screening level for gross alpha activity is 0,1 Bq/l. The recommended screening level for gross beta activity is 1,0 Bq/l.

If the gross alpha activity and gross beta activity are less than 0,1 Bq/l and 1,0 Bq/l respectively, the Member State may assume that the ID is less than the parametric value of 0,1 mSv and radiological investigation is not needed unless it is known from other sources of information that specific radionuclides are present in the water that are liable to cause an ID in excess of 0,1 mSv.

If the gross alpha activity exceeds 0,1 Bq/l or the gross beta activity exceeds 1,0 Bq/l, analysis for specific radionuclides shall be required.

Member States may set alternative screening levels for gross alpha activity and gross beta activity where they can demonstrate that the alternative levels are in compliance with an ID of 0,1 mSv.

The radionuclides to be measured shall be defined by Member States taking into account all relevant information about likely sources of radioactivity. Since elevated levels of tritium may indicate the presence of other artificial radionuclides, tritium, gross alpha activity and gross beta activity should be measured in the same sample.

2. Calculation of the ID

The ID shall be calculated from the measured radionuclide concentrations and the dose coefficients laid down in Annex III, Table A of Directive 96/29/Euratom or more recent information recognised by the competent authorities in the Member State, on the basis of the annual intake of water (730 l for adults). Where the following formula is satisfied, Member States may assume that the ID is less than the parametric value of 0,1 mSv and no further investigation shall be required:

where

C_i(obs)

=

observed concentration of radionuclide i

C_i(der)

=

derived concentration of radionuclide i

n

=

number of radionuclides detected.

Derived concentrations for radioactivity in water intended for human consumption ^a

a This table includes values for the most common natural and artificial radionuclides; these are precise values, calculated for a dose of 0,1 mSv, an annual intake of 730 litre and using the dose coefficients laid down in Annex III, Table A of Directive 96/29/Euratom; derived concentrations for other radionuclides can be calculated on the same basis, and values can be updated on the basis of more recent information recognised by the competent authorities in the Member State.
b This table allows only for the radiological properties of uranium, not for its chemical toxicity.
Origin	Nuclide	Derived concentration
Natural	U-238b	3,0 Bq/l
	U-234b	2,8 Bq/l
	Ra-226	0,5 Bq/l
	Ra-228	0,2 Bq/l
	Pb-210	0,2 Bq/l
	Po-210	0,1 Bq/l
Artificial	C-14	240 Bq/l
	Sr-90	4,9 Bq/l
	Pu-239/Pu-240	0,6 Bq/l
	Am-241	0,7 Bq/l
	Co-60	40 Bq/l
	Cs-134	7,2 Bq/l
	Cs-137	11 Bq/l
	I-131	6,2 Bq/l

3. Performance characteristics and methods of analysis

For the following parameters and radionuclides, the method of analysis used must, as a minimum, be capable of measuring activity concentrations with a limit of detection specified below:

Note 1: The limit of detection shall be calculated according to the ISO standard 11929: Determination of the characteristic limits (decision threshold, detection limit and limits of the confidence interval) for measurements of ionising radiation — Fundamentals and application, with probabilities of errors of 1st and 2nd kind of 0,05 each.
Note 2: Measurement uncertainties shall be calculated and reported as complete standard uncertainties, or as expanded standard uncertainties with an expansion factor of 1,96, according to the ISO Guide for the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement.
Note 3: The limit of detection for tritium and for radon is 10 % of its parametric value of 100 Bq/l.
Note 4: The limit of detection for gross alpha activity and gross beta activities are 40 % of the screening values of 0,1 and 1,0 Bq/l respectively.
Note 5: This limit of detection applies only to initial screening for ID for a new water source; if initial checking indicates that it is not plausible that Ra-228 exceeds 20 % of the derived concentration, the limit of detection may be increased to 0,08 Bq/l for routine Ra-228 nuclide specific measurements, until a subsequent re-check is required.
Parameters and radionuclides	Limit of detection (Notes 1, 2)	Notes
Tritium	10 Bq/l	Note 3
Radon	10 Bq/l	Note 3
gross alpha activity	0,04 Bq/l	Note 4
gross beta activity	0,4 Bq/l	Note 4
U-238	0,02 Bq/l
U-234	0,02 Bq/l
Ra-226	0,04 Bq/l
Ra-228	0,02 Bq/l	Note 5
Pb-210	0,02 Bq/l
Po-210	0,01 Bq/l
C-14	20 Bq/l
Sr-90	0,4 Bq/l
Pu-239/Pu-240	0,04 Bq/l
Am-241	0,06 Bq/l
Co-60	0,5 Bq/l
Cs-134	0,5 Bq/l
Cs-137	0,5 Bq/l
I-131	0,5 Bq/l

(1)

Where appropriate gross beta activity may be replaced by residual beta activity after subtraction of the K-40 activity concentration.