Occurrence of natural radioactivity in public water supplies in Germany: (238)U, (234)U, (235)U, (228)RA, (226)RA, (222)RN, (210)PB, (210)PO and gross alpha activity concentrations.

The Federal Office for Radiation Protection performed a representative survey on the radiological quality of drinking water in Germany. The aim of this study was to determine regional variations of natural radionuclide concentrations and to estimate radiation exposures caused by drinking water consumption. The study includes analyses of the natural radionuclides (238)U, (234)U, (235)U, (228)Ra, (226)Ra, (222)Rn, (210)Pb, (210)Po and of gross alpha activity concentrations in drinking water from 564 public water supplies. This represents 3 % of all German water supplies providing about 37 Mio. inhabitants. Results on ranges, medians and distributions of radionuclide concentrations of drinking water as well as age-dependent ingestion and inhalation doses estimated for members of the public are presented. Generally, the dose due to uranium isotopes is negligibly low. Radiation exposures are predominantly caused by (222)Rn, (228)Ra, (210)Po and (210)Pb. The ingestion dose deduced for adults (>17 a) and infants (0-1 a) is dominated by (222)Rn and (228)Ra, respectively. A gross alpha activity analysis procedure using liquid scintillation counting has been tested. Measured gross alpha activities values were found to be well related to the summarised activities of (238)U, (234)U, (226)Ra and (210)Po.