European metrology network for radiation protection: Quality infrastructure for a stronger Europe

To better protect European citizens, the EU's radiation protection regulations have become increasingly more sophisticated. Innovative technological developments and new threats can lead to new radiation exposure scenarios. Measures to respond to these new needs come by regulation and include for example increasingly restrictive exposure limits, the introduction of new reference values, and enhanced quality assurance requirements for legal dose assessment. Can metrology support the increasing needs laid down by regulation and ensure by this that Europe has a world-leading metrology capability, based on high-quality scientific research and an effective and inclusive infrastructure, that meets the rapidly advancing needs of end users? To do this, EURAMET has set up European Metrology Networks (EMN). Currently there are twelve EMNs: Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy, Climate and Ocean Observation, Energy Gases, Laboratory Medicine, Mathematics and Statistics, Pollution Monitoring, Quantum Technologies, Radiation Protection, Safe and Sustainable Food, Smart Electricity Grids and Smart Specialisation in Northern Europe. The European Metrology Network for Radiation Protection (EMN RP) responds to the technical developments and aims to act as a single point of contact to cover the metrological needs related to radiation protection. To enable quality assurance in all areas, the network fosters a harmonised, sustainable, coordinated and smartly specialised infrastructure to underpin the needs expressed by stakeholders and in the European regulations for radiation protection. This includes the close cooperation with organisations that are key in the international work for radiation protection like IAEA and ICRP or key for metrology like BIPM with CCRI and EURAMET with TC-IR. A special focus of the EMN is a cooperation with regulators and standardization bodies to actively contribute to the generation of new and to the revision of existing standards (ISO, IEC and CEN/CENELEC). The aim of the network is to support quality management in all radiation protection issues, to support the development of more harmonised service procedures and capabilities, analyse the needs and give support to research, and by this to contribute to the improvement of radiation protection as a whole. By doing so, the EMN for Radiation Protection improves the understanding of general metrology aims: quality assurance, quality of data and low uncertainties in measurements. The EMN for Radiation Protection presents within this contribution a research agenda designed to ensure that suitable reference fields and standards can be developed to support radiation protection regulations, to address knowledge transfer requirements and to provide input to international standards. Based on the possibilities offered by European funding programmes (Euratom and Horizon Europe), the EMN members propose joint research projects with the intention to develop solutions suitable for practical applications, develop new calibration services and facilitate the launch of new technologies.