Wi-Fi technology and human health impact: a brief review of current knowledge.

An enormous increase in the application of wireless communication in recent decades has intensified research into consequent increase in human exposure to electromagnetic (EM) radiofrequency (RF) radiation fields and potential health effects, especially in school children and teenagers, and this paper gives a snap overview of current findings and recommendations of international expert bodies, with the emphasis on exposure from Wi-Fi technology indoor devices. Our analysis includes over 100 in vitro, animal, epidemiological, and exposure assessment studies (of which 37 in vivo and 30 covering Wi-Fi technologies). Only a small portion of published research papers refers to the "real" health impact of Wi-Fi technologies on children, because they are simply not available. Results from animal studies are rarely fully transferable to humans. As highly controlled laboratory exposure experiments do not reflect real physical interaction between RF radiation fields with biological tissue, dosimetry methods, protocols, and instrumentation need constant improvement. Several studies repeatedly confirmed thermal effect of RF field interaction with human tissue, but non-thermal effects remain dubious and unconfirmed.

ESTIMATION OF AIRBORNE 106RU ACTIVITY CONCENTRATION FROM TOTAL BETA ACTIVITY OF PM10 PARTICLE FRACTIONS.

Airborne radioruthenium, as a result of an accidental release, presents a risk for occupational and public exposure. In fall 2017, a detection of 106Ru was reported by the European atmospheric radioactive contamination monitoring networks. We investigated the daily specific total beta activity of PM10 particle fractions samples. The presented method enables indirect determination of airborne 106Ru activity concentration from total beta activity, in case 106Ru was confirmed as single excess radiological pollutant. This allows for daily measurements and time-resolved 106Ru activity concentration data. We estimated the indicative committed effective dose due to 106Ru inhalation for the Croatian population during the exposure period. Although the estimated dose value of ~169.7 nSv, for ~6-d duration of ruthenium air pollution, was very low, it was ~40 times higher than the value for Hinh from inhalation of other radionuclides (90Sr + 137Cs + 40K + 7Be).

A TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW OF ACTIVE IONIZING RADIATION DOSEMETERS FOR PHOTON FIELDS.

Radiation protection and radiation dosimetry strongly rely on measurements performed by dosimetry instrumentation. Two categories of dosimetry instrumentation prevail: personal dosemeters and survey meters. Passive dosemeters were for many years the base of personal and area dosimetry (environmental, including workplace). Survey meters have been long-established between area meters due to their dose rate measurement capability, but just over a decade ago, debates over possibility that electronic personal dosemeters (EPDs) could replace passive personal dosemeters as legal monitoring devices have started. These debates have now branched into the use of EPDs, but also survey meters in various exposure scenarios, where some concerns have been reported. These concerns were mostly related to the response in pulsed X-ray fields and poor energy response. This article summarizes recent literature related to electronic dosemeters for strongly penetrating photon radiation and covers technologies used in contemporary EPDs and survey meters, their performance and future perspectives.

Radiological risk assessment: an overview of the ERICA Integrated Approach and the ERICA Tool use.

The ERICA project (Environmental Risk from Ionising Contaminants: Assessment and Management) was co-funded by the European Union as part of the 6th Framework Programme (FP EURATOM). The project was carried out between 2004 and 2007 as the collective work of 15 organisations in seven European countries. Two significant outputs of the project are the ERICA Integrated Approach and the ERICA Tool. The ERICA Integrated Approach consists of three elements: assessment, risk characterisation and management. The ERICA Tool is a practical implementation of the assessment component of the ERICA Integrated Approach and has a three-tier structure. The aim of this review paper is to give a concise overview of ERICA project outputs and their structure, updates done since their first release in 2007, as well as to provide a context for their practical application in environmental radiation protection and radiological risk assessments for various engineering scenarios.