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ERA Hosts Webinar on UNSCEAR’s latest global report on the “Evaluation of Public Exposure to Ionizing Radiation”

On Thursday September 17 at 10.00 BST, the European Radon Association (ERA) will be running a webinar which will be discussing the findings of the most recent United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) report on the exposure of the global population to ionizing radiation from natural and artificial sources. Presenting the webinar will be Wolfgang Ringer,  Head of the Department of Radon and Radioecology at the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES). To register for the webinar, click here.

For the new report, the expert group on radon and thoron reviewed and assessed about 2,000 publications as well as data submitted by 61 member states, based on defined quality criteria. The focus was on the results of national (and regional) surveys of radon and thoron concentrations in buildings and outdoors, and radon concentrations in drinking water. Additionally, aspects such as temporal and spatial variability of radon concentrations in buildings, time spent indoors, equilibrium factor for radon, and temporal trends are described in the report.

The Committee estimates that the worldwide average annual effective dose from natural sources is approximately 3.0 millisieverts (mSv). The largest contributor is inhalation of radon, thoron and their decay products (1.8 mSv), followed by ingestion of naturally occurring radionuclides (0.5 mSv), and external exposure from terrestrial radionuclides (0.4 mSv) and cosmic radiation (0.3 mSv). The increase from the previously reported global average of 2.4 mSv (UNSCEAR 2008) reflects improved data availability and methodological refinements, rather than an actual rise in radiation levels.

Key findings of the new report include:

• Natural background radiation remains the dominant source of public exposure
  Even with improved estimates, natural radiation continues to account for the vast majority of doses received by the general public.
• Human made sources generally contribute only a small fraction of total public exposure
  Outside of rare major accidents, exposures from medical, industrial, research and consumer applications of radiation technologies are typically in the range of only a few microsieverts per year.
• Nuclear power plant discharges result in very low doses to the public
  Annual doses to members of the public living around nuclear power production facilities generally do not exceed a few tens of microsieverts. The collective effective dose per unit electricity generated is estimated at 0.4 person-Sv/(GW·a).
• Exposures from past nuclear weapons testing sites have dramatically decreased
  While exposures immediately after historical tests were significant, present day doses at historical nuclear weapons test sites in New Mexico, the Marshall Islands, Mururoa and Fangataufa, and Semipalatinsk are generally well below natural background levels.
• Public exposures related to the Chornobyl and Fukushima Daiichi accidents continue to decline
  Environmental radionuclide levels and resulting public doses have fallen steadily due to radioactive decay, environmental processes and remediation. Current annual doses near Chornobyl range from tens of microsieverts to a few millisieverts, and from a few microsieverts up to about 0.3 mSv in non-evacuated municipalities near Fukushima Daiichi.

This updated UNSCEAR assessment represents a comprehensive global evaluation of public exposure to radon and thoron, highlighting the need for harmonized surveys and standardized measurement protocols to address remaining data gaps.

UNSCEAR is a UN body established in 1955 to independently assess the levels, effects, and risks of ionizing radiation on human health and the environment. Its scientific evaluations serve as the global foundation for radiation protection standards.

The Committee’s core purpose and scope are:

Scientific Assessment: It evaluates exposure from various sources, including natural background radiation, medical procedures, nuclear energy production, and past nuclear testing.

Global Authority: Governments and international organizations rely on UNSCEAR’s estimates as the authoritative scientific basis for evaluating radiation risk and establishing safety protocols.

Public Reporting: It regularly compiles extensive, peer-reviewed data and publishes major reports (such as its recent 2024 reports) that are disseminated to the UN General Assembly, the scientific community, and the general public.

The ERA is a non- profit International Organisation registered under Belgian law (number 549.923.484). It has been formed to serve the interests of the European radon community.