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Abstract. More than 23 million workers worldwide are occupationally exposed to ionizing radiation and all people in the world are exposed to environmental radiation. The mean exposure, that is the mean annual dose of per person, is dominated by medical applications and exposure to natural sources. Due to recent developments in healthcare, e.g. the increasing application of ionising radiation in medical imaging with relative high doses like CT, and modern high dose applications (for example CT angiography), the exposure due to medical application has risen. Additionally, the changes in living conditions increase the exposure to natural radioactivity also: More living time is spent in buildings or in an urban environment, which causes higher exposure to Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) in building materials and higher exposure to radon. The level of radon activity concentration in buildings is far higher than in the environment (outdoor). This effect is often amplified by modern energy-efficient buildings which reduce the air exchange and thus increase the radon indoor activity concentration. In summary both medical application of ionizing radiation and natural sources are responsible for the increase of the mean annual exposure of the population. The accurate measurement of radiation dose is key to ensuring safety but there are two challenges to be faced: First, new standards and reference fields are needed due to the rapid developments in medical imaging, radiotherapy and industrial applications. Second, direct communication channels are needed to ensure that information on best practice in measurements reaches effectively and quickly the people concerned. It is therefore necessary to allow for an international exchange of information on identified problems and solutions. Consequently, a European Metrology Network (EMN) for radiation protection under the roof of EURAMET is in the foundation phase. This network EMN for Radiation Protection is being prepared by the project EMPIR 19NET03 supportBSS. The project aims to prepare this EMN by addressing this issue through the identification of stakeholder research needs and by implementing a long-term ongoing dialogue between stakeholders and the metrology community. The EMN will serve as a unique point of contact to address all metrological needs related to radiation protection and it will relate to all environmental processes where ionising radiation and radionuclides are involved. A Strategic Research Agenda and two roadmaps are in development, covering the metrology needs of both the Euratom Treaty and the EU Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM pinning down the basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionizing radiation. Furthermore, long-term knowledge sharing, and capacity building will be supported and a proposal for a sustainable joint European metrology infrastructure is under way. This will significantly strengthen the radiation protection metrology and support radiation protection measures. The final goal of the network project is a harmonised, sustainable, coordinated and smartly specialised infrastructure to underpin the current and future needs expressed in the European regulations for radiation protection.

This paper presents a comparison performed between two calibration laboratories in several radiation qualities, using dosimeters of varying quality as transfer instruments. The goal of this work was to investigate the viability of using field-class dosimeters for official comparisons and to determine if the calibration factors for field-class dosimeters are comparable between calibration laboratories within the stated measurement uncertainties. The results of the comparison were acceptable for high-quality electronic personal dosimeters in all radiation qualities, and such dosimeters could be used as transfer instruments. On the other hand, comparison results for low-quality dosimeters were often not acceptable, either due to pronounced energy dependence, low stability, or both. Such instruments are unreliable even under well-defined laboratory conditions, and their use in routine measurements may cause doubt in official data or influence public opinion. This problem is often hidden because many dosimeters are calibrated or verified only in 137Cs beams, where the deviations are the smallest. The largest differences are found for low-energy X-ray radiation qualities, where many dosimeters have significant overresponse.

<p>More than 23 million workers worldwide are exposed occupationally to ionizing radiation in the workplace and all people in the world are exposed to environmental radiation. Due to developments in healthcare and changes in living conditions, radiation exposure from artificial and natural sources has been increasing for years. Accurate measurement of radiation dose is key to ensuring safety, but there are two challenges to address. First, new standards and reference fields are needed due to the rapid developments in medical imaging, radiotherapy and industrial applications. Second, communication channels are needed to ensure that information on best practice in measurements reaches the people concerned effectively and quickly.</p><p>It is therefore necessary to provide access to identified problems and solutions on an international level. A European Metrology Network (EMN) under the roof of EURAMET is in the foundation phase prepared by the project supportBSS[1]. This project will prepare this future EMN by addressing this issue through the identification of stakeholder research needs and implementing a long-term ongoing dialogue between them and the metrology community. The EMN will serve as a single point of contact to address all metrological needs related to radiation protection and will relate to all environment processes in which ionising radiation and radionuclides are involved.</p><p>A Strategic Research Agenda and two roadmaps are under development, covering the metrology needs of both the Euratom Treaty and the EU Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM (laying down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionizing radiation). Furthermore, long-term knowledge-sharing and capacity building will be supported and a proposal for a joint and sustainable European metrology infrastructure is in the development. This will significantly strengthen radiation protection metrology and support radiation protection measures. The final goal of the network project is a harmonised, sustainable, coordinated, and smart specialised infrastructure to underpin the needs expressed in the European regulation for radiation protection.</p><div><br><div> <p>[1] This project has received funding from the EMPIR programme co-financed by the Participating States and from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. 19NET03 supportBSS denotes the EMPIR project reference.</p> <p> </p> </div> </div>