Openradiation
from 01/01/2017
The idea of the Openradiation project is born in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear accident. After the accident, Japanese people were in demand of measuring by themselves levels of radioactivity in their environment. Radioactivity sensors adapted to citizen measurements were created and their use allowed inhabitants of contaminated places to assess by themselves radiation risks. This allowed them to regain daily life choices, becoming actors of their own protection.
In France, numerous nuclear reactors are currently in operation. As a consequence, people living near these nuclear power plants are questioning about the radiological quality of their environment. Openradiation was thus created to allow citizen to measure radioactivity in their living place. The Openradiation comprises radioactivity sensors (that can be lend or bought), a smartphone application that drives the radioactivity sensor and a website were all measurements are published and freely accessible. The whole system is in open source and open data, allowing anyone to retrieve and analyse a set of data or to retrieve source codes.
Since its creation, Openradiation gathered almost 300 users and more than 770 000 measurements, across the world. It is also widely used as a pedagogic tool for awareness raising actions or education in sciences.
Aim
The Openradiation has three main objectives:
- Giving the possibility to anyone to make measurements of radioactivity in their environment.
- Providing a pedagogic tool for education about radiation protection
- Providing independent data about level of radioactivity in the environment.
Other secondary objectives are:
- Providing a large database of radiation measurement to any individual or group (including researchers) interested in analysing radioactivity data.
- Providing a tool for studies in social sciences and humanities about the perception of radioactivity within the population.
- Providing a tool for environmental studies conducted with a citizen participation.
Needed equipment
The equipment needed is mainly a radioactivity detector of good quality. We recommend mainly two models:
- the Planète science kit, which is a do-it-yourself detector. This ais a very good pedagogic tool for education to technology but not recommended for people not familiar with electronic tools
- The Rium detector, a ready-to-use detector.
The contact information for buying or lending these detectors is available through the following E-mail address: contact@openradiation.org
Other detectors are available on the market, but the quality of these detectors is not guaranteed.
Created July 30, 2024, 2:16 p.m.
Updated July 31, 2024, 8:07 a.m.
