Procedures' Manuals
In Germany, monitoring of activity concentrations and specific activities of radioactive substances in the environment is carried out in accordance with the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community of 1957 (EURATOM) and the Radiation Protection Act (Strahlenschutzgesetz, StrlSchG) of 2017. The Federation and its agencies are responsible for developing and establishing sampling and analysis procedures for carrying out monitoring in order to ensure that measurements and evaluations of environmental contamination are consistent. A booklet compiled by the Federal coordinating offices (Leitstellen des Bundes) and published by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) serves this purpose. The booklet is made up of two parts: a general part containing properties for alpha, beta and gamma-emitting radionuclides and an overview of analysis procedures for these materials and a part containing validated procedures used by the individual coordinating offices. This booklet, initially in print, has been available on the BMUKN website since 2008.
The respective Federal coordinating offices are responsible for the content and up-to-dateness of the procedures.
AKU-booklet of recommendations
In addition to the Procedures' Manual for monitoring radioactive substances in the environment and external radiation created by the Federal coordinating offices and published by the BMUKN, a booklet of recommendations on monitoring environmental radioactivity (Empfehlungen zur Überwachung der Umweltradioaktivität) is also available from the AKU, the environmental monitoring working group of the Radiation Protection Association (Arbeitskreis Umweltüberwachung des Fachverbandes für Strahlenschutz). Where the BMUKN has no published procedure for a particular measuring procedure, the AKU's instructions can be consulted as an equally valid source.