Following approval of the BSS directive, the European directive 2013/59/Euratom is currently being implemented in the German Radiation Protection Act. In this connection, the Federal Association of the German Brick and Tile Industry already pressed for a regulation to be included in the European BSS directive to take into account the density and thickness of building components, enabling a fair assessment of lightweight clay brick exterior walls.

The talk will provide an overview of the existing national regulations of the EU member states with regard to the assessment of the radioactivity of construction materials and the European legal framework. Based on the example of the survey measurements of ­Germany’s Federal Office for Radiation Protection, the measurement and assessment of the radioactivity of construction products, especially the radioactivity of ceramic construction materials, will be described. Besides the exposure pathway of direct radiation (gamma radiation), the proportional increase in the indoor radon concentration as a result of the radon release from the building materials will also be examined.

Dipl.-Ing. Dieter Rosen, Bundesverband der Deutschen ­Ziegelindustrie e.V.