Articles 35 and 36 of the Euratom Treaty require each Member State to have a system of state environmental radiological monitoring to assess the radioactive contamination of the environment and its components, foodstuffs and their raw materials, feed and raw materials, and to provide radiological monitoring data to other European Union Member States.
The organization and implementation of environmental radiological monitoring is regulated by the Law on Environmental Monitoring of the Republic of Lithuania. This law stipulates that environmental radiological monitoring, which is part of environmental monitoring, is a systematic and continuous monitoring of the ambient gamma dose rate and dose equivalent, environmental components, food and their raw materials, feed and their raw materials and drinking water contamination with radionuclides, public exposure assessment and forecasting at the state, municipal or economic entity level.
From 2021, January 1 state environmental radiological monitoring shall be organized by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania and carried out by the Radiation Protection Center. Until 2021, January 1 this monitoring was carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency together with the Radiation Protection Center.
The Radiation Protection Center is responsible for carrying out state radiological environmental monitoring and providing data to the public and national institutions of the Republic of Lithuania and the European Commission.
State Environmental Monitoring Program for 2018–2023, approved by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania in 2018, October 3 by resolution no. 996, was supplemented by environmental radiological monitoring chapter.
In order to implement the objectives of the State Environmental Monitoring Program for 2018–2023, the responsible institutions shall prepare plans for this purpose for each year. Minister of Health of the Republic of Lithuania in 2021, November 8 by order No. V-2502 approved the plan for the implementation of the tasks for the year 2022 due to environmental radiological monitoring.
The state environmental radiological monitoring carried out in Lithuania complies with the Recommendations of the European Commission on the implementation of Article 36 of the Euratom Treaty, approved in 2000. In implementing the provisions of these recommendations, by order no. V-3003 of the Minister of Health of the Republic of Lithuania in 2020, December 23 “On the Approval of the Description of the Procedure for Carrying Out the State Radiological Environmental Monitoring and Providing Information to the European Commission and the Public”, the radiological environmental monitoring networks, measurement and sampling requirements and radionuclides and parameters have been approved.
The content of the radiological environment monitoring program of economic entities, the procedure for its preparation, coordination, implementation, control and provision of information shall be in line with requirements set in order no. V-3028 of the Minister of Health of the Republic of Lithuania in 2020, December 26 “On Approval of the Description of the Procedure for Radiological Environmental Monitoring of Economic Entities”. The Radiation Protection Center controls the implementation of radiological environmental monitoring of economic entities, the quality of monitoring data, as well as whether the applied methods comply with legal acts.
