Events

NKS-B GammaSem seminar - Nordic seminar for users of gamma spectrometry, Kjeller, Norway

16-17 September, 2009

Registration deadline is Monday 1^st of June 2009

Organised by the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Denmark; Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), Icelandic Radiation Protection Institute, National Institute of Radiation Protection, Denmark

The GammaSem seminar will provide a forum for discussions and sharing of information on practical issues concerning gamma spectrometry and establishing a network of users of gamma spectrometry in the Nordic countries. This network will aim to strengthen Nordic collaboration through networking of scientists and gamma spectrometry users, improving competence in practical gamma spectrometry.

The seminar will aim to cover topics based on the participants’ own experience in gamma spectrometry with emphasis on common problems/challenges often encountered. A list of such relevant topics might include:

· Uncertainties

· Detection limits

· Coincidence summing

· Libraries

· Monte Carlo 

· Methods for calibrations and correction

· Density correction, self-absorption

· Experience with different software

· Different need for different users of gamma spectrometry

· Common geometries

· Experience with different detectors

· Quality assurance and accreditation,

· Intercomparisons

· Training

· Experience with unusual samples and/or spectra

· Electric vs N₂ cooling

In addition, Dr. Gordon Gilmore will give a presentation with the preliminary title “Does our software tell us the truth (or should we burn the Black Box)?”. The presentation will aim at encouraging users not to trust their spectrum analysis programs uncritically.

Proposals for presentations within the scope of the seminar are very welcome. Abstracts (Maximum 500 words) should be sent to Paula Nunez (paulan@ife.no) by 21st of August 2009.  

More information on this seminar can be downloaded here.

The seminar webpage can be viewed here.

Contact persons:

Paula Nunez (paulan@ife.no)

Sven P. Nielsen (sven.nielsen@risoe.dk)

Sigurður Emil Pálsson (sep@gr.is)

Carsten Israelson (cis@sis.dk)

Seppo Klemola (seppo.klemola@stuk.fi)

NKS-B NordDSS

Nordic workshop for users of Decision Support Systems (DSS)

1^st-2^nd of October 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark at the Admiral Hotel.

To register for this workshop please fill out this online form. You will receive a confirmation from the organisers. Contact one of the organisers if you are not able to use this form.

The registration deadline is Tuesday the 25^th of August.

ARGOS and RODOS are decision support systems (DSS) used by nuclear emergency management authorities in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland together with several other countries. Both DSS features models and functionality to analyze dispersions from nuclear reactors or other radiological sources, analyze and visualize measurements, model and analyze consequences of a fallout, and analyze countermeasures.

The purpose of the workshop is to share national practice and experience on the use of ARGOS and RODOS during a crisis with focus on operational implementation and use, interpretation and verification of results and production of decision basis. The aim is to establish a common ground to better understand how these DSS are used in the different countries, identify differences and exchange knowledge to increase competence. In the long term the outcome can be used to focus future development on improving the operational use of ARGOS and RODOS, and harmonize their results.

The target group for the workshop are experts who will use ARGOS and RODOS during an emergency and provide information to decision-makers. It includes experts working with decision support systems in general, decision makers, experts on specific models, researchers, developers and others.

Further information on the workshop can be found here.

Organisers

Jan Erik Dyve, NRPA (Norway), jan.erik.dyve@nrpa.no, +47 67 16 26 48

Michael Ammann, STUK (Finland), michael.ammann@stuk.fi

Jonas Lindgren, SSM (Sweden), jonas.lindgren@ssm.se

Steen Hoe, DEMA (Denmark), hoe@beredskapsstyrelsen.dk

NKS-B RadWorkshop

Workshop on Radioanalytical Chemistry for Radioecology and Waste Management 

16^th-20^th November 2009, Roskilde, Denmark at Risø-DTU

Registration deadline is Thursday the 1^st of October 

This workshop is organised by the Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, DTU, Denmark; University of Helsinki, Finland; Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway; Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden; and Lund University, Sweden.

The objectives of this workshop are:

1) To provide the participants with an overview of the radiochemical analytical methods for the determination of various radionuclides (mainly beta and alpha emitting) relevant to environmental radioactivity and waste management

2) To provide an opportunity to the participants getting knowledge and practical (hands-on) experience of state-of-the-art measurement techniques used for the determination of different radionuclides by participating in practical training in the laboratory (experimental demonstration and analysis of real samples)

3) To provide a forum for knowledge exchange of radioanalysis of various radionuclides and discussion of present radiochemical procedures for the individual radionuclides.

The workshop aims to strengthen the education of MSc/PhD students and young scientists in the radiochemical analysis for environmental radioactivity, waste management, decommissioning of nuclear facility, and other relevant areas, and to increase competence of staff involved in radiochemical separation and determination of radionuclides.

The workshop includes two parts:

1) Invited lectures and presentations of the participants;

2) Laboratory training/practice. 20-25 invited lectures will be given by experienced senior researchers in the field of radiochemistry, radioecology and waste management. The participants can participate in all lectures/presentation, and one of three laboratory practices.

Three laboratory practices are:

1) Radiochemcial separation of  ⁹⁰Sr, ²¹⁰Po, ²²⁶Ra and g- and a-spectrometry measurement

2) Radiochemcial separation of  ⁹⁹Tc, Pu isotopes and ICP-MS measurement

3) Radiochemcial separation of  ³H, ¹⁴C, ⁵⁵Fe, ⁶³Ni, and LSC measurement.

The topics of the lectures include:

General aspects in Radiochemical Analysis for Radionuclides;

Separation techniques for determination of radionculides

Radiochemical separation methods of various radionuclides including isotopes of Pu, U,  Th, and Ra, ²³⁷Np, ²⁴¹Am,  ²¹⁰Po, ²¹⁰Pb, ⁹⁹Tc, ⁹⁰Sr, ¹³⁷Cs, ³H, ¹⁴C,  ³⁶Cl, ⁴¹Ca ⁵⁵Fe, ⁶³Ni, and ¹²⁹I.

Sampling and pre-concentration techniques for environmental radioactivity analysis

Radiometric analytical techniques including g- and a-spectrometry, beta counting with Ultra-low level background G-M counter, and Liquid Scintillation counting.

Mass spectrometric and other techniques for long-lived radionuclides including ICP-MS, AMS, RIMS, neutron activation analysis.

Automated and rapid analytical technique for radionuclides.

Techniques for speciation analysis of radionuclides

There is no registration fee for students and young scientists (< 35 years) from the Nordic countries and limited numbers from the Baltic States. No financial support for travel and accommodation is available from the workshop organizers. Participants are recommended to apply for travel support directly from NKS. Please visit the NKS web site for further details on how to claim travel support.

Applications for participation in the workshop should be sent to Xiaolin Hou (xiho@risoe.dtu.dk) by the 1^st of October 2009. Participants are invited to submit an abstract/full paper and present their work in the workshop orally or by poster. Workshop proceedings will be published as a NKS report.

Organisers

Xiaolin Hou (xiho@risoe.dtu.dk)

Sven P. Nielsen (sven.nielsen@risoe.dk)

Jukka Letho (jukka.lehto@helsinki.fi)

Mats Jonsson (mats@kth.se)

Lindis Skipperud (lindis.skipperud@umb.no)

Ylva Ranebo (ylva.ranebo@med.lu.se)

NKS-B NordThreat seminar

30-31 October, 2008, Oslo/Asker, Norway

This emergency preparedness seminar was organised by the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Finland; the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority and the Icelandic Radiation Protection Institute to highlight similarities and differences between national threat assessments. Attended by over 40 participants, speakers included Jane L. Smith-Briggs (Nuvia), Kasper G. Andersson (Risø), Heiki Reponen (STUK), Anne Stenersen (FFI), Ole Reistad (NRPA) and Per Strand (NRPA), with subjects ranging from the Andreeva Bay, dirty bombs in urban areas, radionuclear terrorism, Russian NPPs and nuclear-powered submarines. In addition George M. Moore from IAEA presented the IAEA Illicit Trafficking Data Base.

Changes in the international security environment and new threats have lead to an increased attention towards the need to revise various threat assessments in the Nordic countries. The seminar presented interested new topics, summarized experiences from previous incidents and new threat assessment from some of the Nordic countries.

The seminar facilitated an exchange of information and opinions and provided a platform for the discussion of possible new networks, especially between researchers and the emergency preparedness communities. The seminar will be summarised in an NKS-B report by the end of 2008.

NKS-B Forest seminar

7-8 October, 2008, Helsinki, Finland

Four organisations from Norway (IFE), Sweden (FOI) and Finland (STUK, METLA) jointly organised an NKS-B seminar titled ‘Towards improved understanding of radionuclide transfer in forests and preparedness to handle contaminated forests’. The aim of the seminar was to provide a forum for exchange of information, discussion on future research needs and networking of experts on forestry, forest research, and radioecology of forests. On both days roughly 30 participants followed oral presentations under five thematic sessions:

Session 1:  Radioecology and forest research – basis for preparedness to manage contaminated forests

Session 2:  Management of forests contaminated by radionuclides

Session 3:       Sampling in forests

Session 4:  Environmental impact of final disposal of highly radioactive nuclear waste

Session 5:  Recent and ongoing studies on radionculides in forests

To support future collaboration and contacts of experts working in related fields, a proposal of an informal forest network was launched in the seminar. The network was activated two weeks later by sending an invitation to the participants (contact address to active and new members: forestnetwork@stuk.fi). The seminar will be summarised in an NKS-B report by the end of 2008.

NKS-B Seminar on Sampling and Measurement
24 – 25 January 2008, Reykjavik, Iceland 

Sampling is an often neglected part of radioecological assessments, yet it is usually the main source of uncertainty. The seminar will focus on various aspects of sampling, both in traditional radioecology (terrestrial, aquatic) but also including new challenges in emergency response situations.  This can be related to the more general question, how well can we through our measurements assess the quantities and parameters we want to assess and are they the right parameters?

More information can also be obtained here
Contact person: Sigurður Emil Pálsson, e-mail: sep@gr.is.

The impact of radionuclides released from hospitals to water sewage systems
13 December, 2007. Workshop in connection with the NKS-B LUCIA project at Statens Strålevern, Oslo. 

The workshop will consider the tools available for radiological assessments of liquid radioactive discharges from hospitals as well as measurements performed in sewage systems. At the workshop  

• the results obtained through studies (experimental and modelling) conducted in association with the LUCIA project will be presented,  
• invited speakers will give presentations in related areas,  
• a demonstration of the prediction tool, based on the model LUCIA, will be given.

Contact person: Ali Hosseini
More information: see here 

NKS-B status seminar 2007

28-29 August 2007, Statens strålevern, Oslo, Norway

The aim of this seminar is to provide a forum where not only results of ongoing and concluded work within NKS-B can be presented, but also suggestions for work that could be undertaken within the NKS-B programme.

Contact person: Sigurður Emil Pálsson, e-mail:  sep@gr.is

Seminar for studenter og yngre forskere
December 14-15, 2006, Helsinki, Finland

Initiativet til YoungRad-seminariet blev taget af yngre nordiske studenter og forskere. Målet med seminariet er at skabe et dynamisk kontaktforum for studenter og yngre forskere der arbejder indenfor områderne radiofysik, radiokemi, radioøkologi, strålebeskyttelse samt andre relaterede fagområder. Seminariet sponsoreres af NKS.

Seminariets emner vil være deltagernes seneste arbejde og studier indenfor relevante områder. Tema for præsentationen kan være dit eget arbejde eller forskningsaktiviteter på dit institut – alt hvad du vil anse for vigtige emner indenfor dit område. Programmet vil inkludere både mundtlige og poster præsentationer. Sproget for de mundtlige præsentationer kan være et skandinavisk sprog såvel som engelsk. Alt skriftligt materiale skal være på engelsk.

For mere information: se her
Kontaktperson: Elisabeth Strålberg