Funded by։ Higher Education and Science Committee of MoESC RA

Project manager from CENS: Olga Belyaeva

International cooperation: University of Novi Sad (Serbia), Professor Jovana Nikolov

Characterization of environmental radioactivity have become increasingly important throughout the world and in Armenia, for various applications: energy, health and environment protection. Many countries, including Armenia, are planning to increase nuclear energy installations in future. Quantification of background radiation is critical to rapidly detect changes in case of accidents and leaks, and to provide reassurance to communities in the absence of anomalies. Geogenic radon exposure is recognized as a public health hazard. Radon is known to correlate with clay and nutrient content in the soil. Their accurate mapping allows the estimation of important soil properties, understanding of radionuclide geochemical variability, behavior and as well as radon geogenic potential. In this project, the Radioecology Department of CENS is addressing main gaps in the field through implementation early-stage researchers’ capacity building and four case studies including integration of urban radiological survey and geographical datasets; comprehensive characterizing of radon hazard in large settlement; monitoring of natural  and artificial radionuclides in precipitation and dry deposition in background areas; implementation of interlaboratory comparisons with University of Novi Sad (Serbia).