Radiation safety data and tools on: 2024 research projects
The Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) develops its own and national competence in several research and development projects to ensure radiation protection for society and the public. The projects develop radiation measurement methods, produce data on radiation exposures and the occurrence of radiation and help to optimise exposures.
STUK mainly carries out applied research. The aim of the research and development work is to provide decision-makers, authorities, radiation users, the public and other stakeholders with correct and comprehensible radiation safety information which is based on research. STUK participates in co-financed projects that are appropriate for its industry and strategy. Participation in projects enables growing STUK's own expertise and producing knowledge within its scope of operations.
In 2024, STUK was involved in a total of 11 co-funded EU projects, one on the applications of radiation metrology funded by the Helsinki Institute of Physics and one funded by the Scientific Advisory Board for Defence (MATINE). In addition, every year, several projects funded by Nordisk kärnsäkerhetsforskning (NKS) or the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health start and end.
National research co-operation has also been developed, for example by the Finnish Consortium for Radiation Safety Research (CORES). The consortium has organised open workshops
on topics such as including he medical use of radiation and the safety of small modular nuclear reactors.
Focus on Nordic and European co-operation
Examples of on-going EU projects in 2024 include the development of radioactive
substance analysis by mass spectrometry (MetroPOEM), development of measurement requirements and strategies needed for emergency situations(KANTTURA), development of information systems for measurements related to emergency situations (IDEAMETA), development of the measurement accuracy of the medical use of diagnostic radiation (TraMeXI) and the improvement of the accuracy of radiation protection measurements and the development of related standards (GuideRadPROS). The Pianoforte project, which co-ordinates European radiation safety research, develops research strategies and funds separate research projects. Of the above, STUK co-ordinates the KANTTURA, IDEAMETA, TraMeXI and GuideRadPROS projects.
The RescEU stockpile project, coordinated by the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, has prepared for the management of a large-scale accident with sufficient capacity of protective and metering equipment. The stored materials are used to prepare for threats caused by chemical (C) and biological (B) substances, radiation (R) and nuclear materials (N). The RescEU emergency reserves are joint strategic reserves funded by the EU. They are deployed by a decision of the European Commission in situations where the country in need does not have sufficient resources to cope with a situation. Finland made the first delivery of its standby warehouse to Ukraine in January 2025.
STUK also carries out a lot of Nordic research and development funded with NKS co-operation. The NKS projects assessed, for example, the impacts of climate change on the transport of radionuclides in Nordic and Arctic marine environments and modelled the concentrations of different nuclides in the deposition resulting from a nuclear explosion at different distances from the point of explosion.