Daejeon City Strengthens Radiation Safety Management in Residential Areas

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Daejeon City is strengthening the safety management of radiation emitted in citizens' daily living environments.

The city announced on the 11th that it has established a comprehensive plan covering these matters and will implement it from this year through 2024 (a five-year plan). This comprehensive plan is the first plan formulated under the 'Daejeon City Living Environment Radiation Safety Management Ordinance' enacted last year.

Until now, the city has focused on radiation safety management primarily related to artificial radiation generated from nuclear facilities. However, according to the comprehensive plan, natural radioactive raw materials such as radon, thorium, potassium, uranium, and products using these materials will also be included in the management scope going forward.

The comprehensive plan focuses on ▲ indoor air quality management due to terrestrial radiation ▲ management of drinking water such as groundwater ▲ radiation inspection of distributed food products ▲ additional acquisition and rental service of radon simple measurement devices ▲ provision of useful information and strengthening communication regarding natural radioactive materials.

Based on this, the city will conduct a joint project with the Ministry of Environment by 2025 to establish a 'mid- to long-term comprehensive radon management plan considering regional characteristics,' and will carry out a detailed indoor radon investigation at 1,500 locations including houses and infant facilities throughout Daejeon in cooperation with the National Institute of Environmental Research.

In particular, a regional living environment radiation distribution mapping system will be established so that citizens can continuously check the radiation distribution around their living areas directly.

Additionally, a year-round rental service for radon simple measurement devices will be provided to support checking whether radon is emitted from household products, and 150 popular food items among distributed food products will be selected for focused management to ensure safety in daily life.

Park Wol-hoon, Director of the Citizen Safety Office of the city, said, "We will strive to ensure citizen safety by establishing a thorough city-level management and response system for radiation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.