Chernobyl: 29th aniversary

29 years have passed since two explosions destroyed the reactor unit 4 of the NPP located in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in the former Soviet Union. I'm 38 years old now. Therefore I was 9 years old when the tragedy happened. The same my wife was. She was a little schoolgirl living in Minsk, Belarus, also former Soviet Union Republic. A chain of mistakes was responsible of the disaster. Not only was an explosion in a nuclear power plant. It was the beginning of decades of radioactive contamination in thousands of kilometres in the surroundings of the NPP.

Literature about this accident is vast and wide. Yet I want to share a document made by JRC (Joint Research Center, European Commission):

http://rem.jrc.ec.europa.eu/RemWeb/pastprojects/Atlas.aspx

This document represents a very interesting approach to study not only the Cs-137 deposition after fall out, but also it aims to analyse the consequences of the catastrophe. It contains maps at three levels: European, national and local scale. All data has been validated and inter-comparisons carried out. It is a good piece to understand the dimensions of what happened and the problems we must face up to.

Radon day at Santiago de Compostela, Spain - 15th of December 2012

"Radon gas day" at CSN (Spanish Nuclear Safety Council): 7th of November 2012. All talks will be in Spanish language (no translation will be provided)

Serge Haroche

David J. Wineland

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2012 was awarded jointly to Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland "for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems"

Radon gas: radio podcast in Spanish

This link shows a podcast about radon gas in a radio program in Spain. Around minute 22 they talk about radon. It is in Spanish

http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/audios/futuro-abierto/futuro-abierto-como-mejorar-salud-casa-01-07-12/1452493/

Launching website EARST

EARST (European Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists) has launched its website in order to share ideas about this association. Please have a look on: http://www.earst.eu/

El 13% de los centros de trabajo de Extremadura presentan niveles altos de radón

Estudio sobre gas radón en Extremadura: http://www.agenciasinc.es/Noticias/El-13-de-los-centros-de-trabajo-de-Extremadura-presentan-niveles-altos-de-radon

Video about radon gas

The link http://www.elradon.com/web/  shows a video about radon gas and natural radioactivity. The video is in Spanish

Marie Curie

Today it 114th aniversary of Marie Curie's birth. A great scientist awarded with two Nobel Prizes.

Marie Curie in wikipedia

Neutrino velocity - Paper

It is very timely yo give here the link to the paper which seems to insert doubts in the concept that light's velocity is not possible to overtake. This is science and we as physicists are proud of it. Now scientists are looking for the source of error in the results. Perhaps there is no such error. Anyway, this is the link to the paper:

Measurement of the neutrino velocity with the OPERA detector in the CNGS beam

ICRER 2011

The international conference on environmental radioactivity has finished. It was held in Hamilton, Canadá organized by McMaster University. The scientific level of the event was quite low and the organziation and practical arrangements was very bad. It was a very bad organized conference and very expensive. There was no enough time for checking posters of participants and a lot of talks were cancelled. This made difficult to follow the pararell sesions. In September it will be announced the place for this conference in 2014. We really hope that the organizers of the conference that year will do much better. Anyway, it is not very difficult to do better than this year.

Fukushima (in Spanish)

Ante las preguntas que algunos nos habéis hecho llegar, aquí os dejamos un enlace que explica bastante bien lo que está ocurriendo en la central nuclear de Fukushima:

http://www.rtve.es/noticias/20110315/fukushima-pasaria-peor-casos/417028.shtml

También se puede encontrar información buscando las declaraciones del Profesor Eduardo Gallego.

INTERNATIONAL INTERCOMPARISON EXERCISE ON NATURAL RADIATION MEASUREMENTS UNDER FIELD CONDITIONS (Spain, May or June 2011)

INTERNATIONAL INTERCOMPARISON EXERCISE ON NATURAL RADIATION MEASUREMENTS UNDER FIELD CONDITIONS

Saelices el Chico (Salamanca, Spain)

Radon Group

University of Cantabria (Spain)

May or June 2011

Laboratory LaRUC from University of Cantabria, Spain will organize an international intercomparison exercise on natural radiation measurements under field conditions next MAY or JUNE 2011. The exercise will be done in an area with high levels of natural radiation and it will be possible to test different instruments and carry out determinations of radon exhalation rate, radon indoor, radon outdoor, radon in water, radon in soil, external gamma radiation and other type of measurements requested by participants. If you wish to find further information, please gave a look to the next picture or contact this blog or LaRUC (laruc@unican.es) 

International Intercomparison excercise on natural radioactivity. May or June 2011 (Salamanca, Spain)

 

Premio Nobel de Física 2010

Press Release  

(taken from Nobel Prize website)

5 October 2010
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2010 to
Andre Geim
University of Manchester, UK
and
Konstantin Novoselov
University of Manchester, UK
"for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene"

 

Graphene – the perfect atomic lattice

A thin flake of ordinary carbon, just one atom thick, lies behind this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics. Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov have shown that carbon in such a flat form has exceptional properties that originate from the remarkable world of quantum physics.
Graphene is a form of carbon. As a material it is completely new – not only the thinnest ever but also the strongest. As a conductor of electricity it performs as well as copper. As a conductor of heat it outperforms all other known materials. It is almost completely transparent, yet so dense that not even helium, the smallest gas atom, can pass through it. Carbon, the basis of all known life on earth, has surprised us once again.
Geim and Novoselov extracted the graphene from a piece of graphite such as is found in ordinary pencils. Using regular adhesive tape they managed to obtain a flake of carbon with a thickness of just one atom. This at a time when many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable.
However, with graphene, physicists can now study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties. Graphene makes experiments possible that give new twists to the phenomena in quantum physics. Also a vast variety of practical applications now appear possible including the creation of new materials and the manufacture of innovative electronics. Graphene transistors are predicted to be substantially faster than today’s silicon transistors and result in more efficient computers.
Since it is practically transparent and a good conductor, graphene is suitable for producing transparent touch screens, light panels, and maybe even solar cells.
When mixed into plastics, graphene can turn them into conductors of electricity while making them more heat resistant and mechanically robust. This resilience can be utilised in new super strong materials, which are also thin, elastic and lightweight. In the future, satellites, airplanes, and cars could be manufactured out of the new composite materials.
This year’s Laureates have been working together for a long time now. Konstantin Novoselov, 36, first worked with Andre Geim, 51, as a PhD-student in the Netherlands. He subsequently followed Geim to the United Kingdom. Both of them originally studied and began their careers as physicists in Russia. Now they are both professors at the University of Manchester.
Playfulness is one of their hallmarks, one always learns something in the process and, who knows, you may even hit the jackpot. Like now when they, with graphene, write themselves into the annals of science.

Further information: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2010/press.html

International Conference 2010: “Hazards - Detection and Management” 20 - 24 September 2010

International Conference “Hazards - Detection and Management” 2010  Together with Dresden University of Technology, the “International Geo-Hazards Research Society” (IGRS) and others, SARAD Environmental Instruments organizes the  international conference “Hazards - Detection and Management” to be held September 20 - 24, 2010 at Dresden, Germany.

Further information:

International Conference 2010:

“Hazards - Detection and Management”

Validation Scheme for Laboratories: LaRUC laboratory (University of Cantabria, Spain)

LaRUC radon laboratory from University of Cantabria (Spain) has recently been validated by HPA (Health Protection Agency, United Kingdom) to carry out radon measurements indoors using etched tracked radon detectors. Further information:

http://www.hpa.org.uk/radonvalidation

INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE MODERN PROBLEMS IN RADIOBIOLOGY (October 14–15 2010, Gomel, Republic of Belarus)

Dear colleagues!
We invite you to participate in the International Scientific Conference “Modern Problems in Radiobiology”. The conference will take place at October, 14–15, 2010 in the Institute of Radiobiology of National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.
The Conference is devoted to discussing of topical questions, current state and tendencies of radiation biology and radioecology development.

The scientific program of conference:
- Medical and biological aspects of radiation exposure
- Radiation security and regulation
- Radiation biochemistry and molecular biology
- Radiation genetics
- Radiation immunology and hematology
- Ways of low doses and low powers ionizing radiation influence
- Radiation biophysics and dosimetry
- Biological indicators of low doses ionizing radiation
- Radiation biology of non-ionizing radiation. Biological effects and regulation
- Radiation protection and modification of radiation effects
- Radioecology
- Joint effects of radiation and other environmental factors
- Theoretical problems in radiobiology. System radiobiology
- Radiation biology and radioecology education

Organizational committee
Chairman:
Navumav Aliaksandr Dmitrievich
tel.: +375(232) 57-07-06 e-mail: adnaumov@tut.by
Vice-chairman:
Timochina Natalia Ilinichna
tel.: +375(232) 57-92-93 e-mail: irb@mail.gomel.by
Executive secretary:
Nikitin Alexander Nikolaevich
tel.: +375(232) 57-63-15 e-mail: nikitinale@gmail.com

The Conference will opened at October, 14 at 10:00 in conference-room in Institute of Radiobiology of NAS of Belarus (Republic of Belarus, Gomel, Fedjuninskogo str., 4). Plenary and thematic sessions and posters demonstration are planned at October, 14–15. The round table, discussion and acceptance of Final Document are planned at October, 15.

The fee for conference participants is 40 000 belarussian rubles or 10 Euro, including 15 000 rubles for proceedings publishing. The pee will be paid with registration of participants on the conference.
Please attach to paper copy of your thesis the Application for participation and sent it on the e-mail: nikitinale@gmail.com until June, 1, 2010.


Address of Organizational committee:
Institute of Radiobiology
Fedjuninskogo str., 4, 246007,
Gomel, Republic of Belarus

2nd Terrestrial Radioisotopes in the Environment Conference

Third European IRPA Congress - 14 – 18 June 2010 Helsinki, Finland

The Nordic Society for Radiation Protection (NSFS) has the honour to invite you to the regional
European IRPA Congress in Helsinki in 14 – 18 June, 2010. This is the third European IRPA congress.
The two preceding congresses in 2002 and 2006 were held in Florence, Italy and in Paris, France.
The Nordic society represents all five Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and
Sweden, and it also has members from the Baltic States. The Nordic radiation protection experts
and authorities will arrange a congress covering all radiation protection topics and offering an
opportunity for high-level and open discussion about the latest findings in radiation research and
challenges in radiation safety and security. Helsinki and its long, bright mid-summer days open up
an excellent setting for the congress.
The congress slogan ”Radiation protection – science, safety and security” expresses the tight
connection between these cornerstones in striving to achieve high level radiation protection.
Our aim is to provide an overview of the international state of the art of the radiation protection
system for ionising and non-ionising radiation and organise thematic sessions on the latest
developments in the field. We are pleased to invite professionals from all over Europe and beyond
to give their contribution to the program.

 Visit  www.irpa2010europe.com for more information.

6th Conference on Protection against Radon at Home and at Work - September 2010 (Prague, Czech Republic)

Dear Madame, Sir

It is a great pleasure for us to invite you to attend the 6th Conference on Protection against Radon at Home and at Work which will be held at the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague from September 13th till 17th, 2010.
The main topic of the Conference is “Radon as an information carrier”.

This letter is the first announcement (please, see the attachment) and call for papers.
For detailed and up-to-date information, please, follow the Conference web site:
www.radon2010.cz

The preceding 5th Conference on Protection against Radon at Home and at Work held in the year 2007 had 80 registered participants from twenty-five countries all over the world. The participants represented a wide range of fields of work related to radon issues: scientists who have dedicated most of their professional life to radon measurement and/or theory, geologists, civil engineers, and epidemiologists.
The selected and peer-reviewed papers were published in the special issue of the Journal of Radiation Protection Dosimetry. Papers of the 6th Conference will be also published in a prestige scientific journal.

The organizers hope that the Conference topics will attract a wide spectrum of the scientific audience to participate at the 6th Conference on Protection against Radon at Home and at Work.

We look forward to meet you in Prague and hope that you will enjoy this venue, offering many opportunities to meet with your peers or colleagues in the unforgettable atmosphere of the Europe's most enchanting city.

Sincerely,

Lenka Thinova and Katerina Rovenska
Local organizing committee