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In some areas of Estonia, groundwater contains a significant number of natural radionuclides, especially radium isotopes, which may cause radiation protection concern depending on the geological structure of the aquifer. Indeed, the parametric value of 0.1 mSv y⁻¹ for the total indicative dose established by European Directive 98/83/EC, adopted as a limit value in Estonian national legislation, is often exceeded. A Twinning Project between Estonia and Italy was carried out within the framework of the Estonian Transition Facility Programme, sponsored by the European Union. Its aims were to assess the radiological situation of Estonian groundwater and related health consequences. The first step was a study of Estonian aqueducts and the population served by them, and a thorough analysis of the radiological database for drinking water, from which the relevant effective doses for the population were obtained. Particular attention was devoted to doses to children and infants. Correlations between the chemical parameters were investigated, in order to suggest the best possible analytical approach. Lastly, a monitoring strategy, i.e. sampling points and sampling frequencies, was proposed.

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Natural radioactivity might be present in fertilizers above ordinary levels, in particular for 40K and for the radionuclides of the 238U series. A modeling evaluation of the individual effective dose deriving from the use of fertilizers in agriculture is presented here. Dose assessment is useful in the transposition of Directive 2013/59/Euratom, which rules the individual exposure to commodities containing radionuclides of natural origin, such as fertilizers. The following input data have been considered for this study: the amount of fertilizers used in the region of Veneto and in Italy; the utilized agricultural area (to estimate the density of spread fertilizers); and, the average values of activity concentrations in fertilizers for 40K and 238U series radionuclides, derived from scientific literature. The individual effective dose was evaluated while using the Resrad calculation model, making assumptions on the characteristics of the interested soil. This study is focused on the region of Veneto, where the use of fertilizers is higher with respect to the rest of Italy, such providing a more conservative estimate of the individual effective dose to the population. The results show that the estimated individual effective dose values do not exceed few µSv per year. The category that most contributes to the dose is that of compound fertilizers and radon and 40K are the most significant radionuclides.