This work presents experimental results concerning the radon concentration from different building materials used for construction of houses in the municipality of Bihac. The passive technique using nuclear track detectors C-39 was used for a period for three months. The highest and lowest radon concentration was found in concrete brick buildings 280±5 Bqm-3 and in stone buildings 122±1 Bqm-3. It depends on the radioactive content of the materials, emanation coefficient and diffusion coefficient of radon in that material, porosity and density of the material. The mean annual effective dose was 3.26 mSv/y. The results obtained also give a correlation between indoor radon levels and the associated level of risk.

Systematic monitoring of environmental radionuclides with the aim of early warning in emergency situations in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FB&H) was established in 2004. Environmental radiation monitoring network includes six automatic monitoring stations over the FB&H territory. This paper deals with the first study of ambient dose equivalent rates collected over the period of 2012-2017 with the main objective to investigate the temporal and spatial variations in the outdoor background radiation. The correlation analysis between the continuously acquired gamma dose rates and the simultaneous meteorological records on a daily basis contributed to a better interpretation of daily variations of the measured data. Derivation of the net ambient dose equivalent rates and the terrestrial radiation component from routine monitoring data was carried out as a prerequisite for adequate monitoring of background radiation. In addition, the terrestrial background component was estimated from the soil radionuclides at the same monitoring sites. The correlation analysis in a form of bivariation statistics between activity concentration of each pair of primordial radionuclides in the soil samples show that primordial radionuclides are not uniformly distributed over the FB&H territory. The mean values with the combined standard uncertainties for the terrestrial component evaluated from the soil radionuclides of (74.4 ± 12.5) nSv/h and from routine monitoring data of (81.8 ± 17.9) nSv/h are within the ranges reported for East and South European countries. The sources of statistical and systematic uncertainties were analyzed. The applied procedure of the terrestrial radiation component evaluation based on the daily monitoring data could be of complementary significance related to the existing evaluation procedures with a smaller sampling time of monitoring records. The results of the present study indicate that the acquired monitoring data are reliable enough to correctly assess the radiological situation in FB&H. In case of an emergency situation, the results obtained could be useful for a better identification of contaminated area.

The main objective of this study was to investigate the correlation between the indoor and outdoor ambient dose equivalent rates measured by the ion chamber inside and around the historical sacral objects at a few locations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The investigated objects made of the traditional building materials were built in the Late Medieval, Post Medieval, and Ottoman Period of Bosnia and Herzegovina history. The LUDLUM Model 9DP instrument based on a pressurized ion chamber was selected for natural low level radiation measurements since the ionisation chambers have higher sensitivities than the other types of detectors. The detection capability of the LUDLUM Model 9DP pressurized ion chamber was examined in the laboratory conditions with a source of low activity and under natural environmental radiation conditions by measuring the indoor and outdoor dose rates. A weak positive correlation was found between the ambient dose equivalent rates inside the historical sacral objects and the dose rates outside the objects. The average evaluated value of the indoor to outdoor dose rate ratio of 1.07 for the studied historic objects is less than that obtained for the contemporary building materials such as concrete. No study on the indoor to outdoor dose rate ratio in Bosnia and Herzegovina measured by the LUDLUM 9DP dose rate meter based on an ion chamber has been conducted yet. In addition to direct measurements, the first gamma spectrometric analysis of a few samples of building materials from the Late Medieval period in Bosna and Herzegovina was performed. The results of the gamma analysis revealed almost uniform distribution of primordial radionuclides in the investigated samples. It was demonstrated that such materials had the reduced content of radioactive isotopes compared to the contemporary building materials and therefore they could have potential advantages in specific applications related to the environmentally sustainable architecture.

In contrast to some traditional neutron detectors, liquid scintillators are suitable for measuring spontaneous fission produced on the nanosecond time-scales. The high multiplicity events in a short period of time are signatures for fissile materials. The neutron and gamma multiplicities have potential to enable extraction of the fissile material attributes. The simulations presented in this paper were done using the MCNPX–PoliMi radiation transport code based on the Monte Carlo method. It was demonstrated that the energy and time information depending on the number of neutrons and gamma-rays emitted in spontaneous fission events of 252Cf contribute additionally to characterize a fission source.

This paper deals with correlation analysis of gamma dose rate measured in the test field with the five distinctive soil samples from a few minefields in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The measurements of ambient dose equivalent rate, due to radionuclides present in each of the soil samples, were performed by the RADIAGEMTM 2000 portable survey meter, placed on the ground and 1m above the ground. The gamma spectrometric analysis of the same soil samples was carried out by GAMMA-RAD5 spectrometer. This study showed that there is a high correlation between the absorbed dose rate evaluated from soil radioactivity and the corresponding results obtained by the survey meter placed on the ground. Correlation analysis indicated that the survey meter, due to its narrow energy range, is not suitable for the examination of cosmic radiation contribution.