UPDATE OF APPROACHES TO THE RADIATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING SYSTEM OF ATMOSPHERIC AIR

Abstract

The article is devoted to highlighting the serious environmental problem of Ukrainian cities in terms of air pollution and organization of the system of environmental monitoring of atmospheric air in accordance with European approaches. As part of the implementation of the provisions of Directive 2008/50/EC into the national legislation of Ukraine, the author proposes to introduce environmental monitoring of atmospheric air quality based on the expansion of fixed measurements by means of indicative measurements of air quality indicators, taking into account regional problems of the territories. The war in Ukraine in 2022-23 has further actualized these issues. Therefore, studies on the consistency of indicative and fixed measurements of air quality indicators are relevant for Ukrainian cities.

The article presents an analysis of our own research on the experience of organizing an effective system of radiation monitoring of atmospheric air in the Mykolaiv region, as well as other materials of our own observations on possible radiation threats and research materials on the organization of radiation monitoring using sensors for indicative measurements of atmospheric air quality indicators. It is shown that the system of radiation monitoring of atmospheric air can be based on indicative measurements of exposure or equivalent dose rate (depending on the calibration), but with mandatory calibration of station sensors by radioiodine. It is also shown that it is necessary to introduce environmental monitoring of atmospheric air using indicative measurements of both chemical and radionuclide pollutants. At the same time, observations of the exposure dose rate are insufficient in the current radiation monitoring of atmospheric air, as they do not allow to quickly identify radionuclides in the air that are pure beta emitters.