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RADIOACTIVITY IN BUILDING MATERIALS
ÖNORM S 5200: A STANDARD IN AUSTRIA TO LIMIT
NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY IN BUILDING MATERIALS (REVISED AND DEFINITE VERSION)

F. Steger 1 and K. Grün 2
1 Austrian Research Centers Seibersdorf, A-2444 Seibersdorf
Tel.No:++43 2254 780 2504, Fax: ++43 2254 780 2502, E-Mail: ferdinand.steger@arcs.ac.at 2 Austrian Standards Institute ON, Heinestraße 38, A-1021 Vienna

The Austrian Standard ÖNORM S 5200, prepared in the early nineties after a prestandard phase
(Steger F.) and in use in Austria since 1996, provides the criteria to assess the radiation dose of
building materials. Gamma radiation of the radionuclides 40 K, 226 Ra and thorium are taken into
account, as well as the dose due to the noble gas radon, which is released from building materials after
the decay of 226 Ra. A type of building material is considered acceptable if its yearly effective dose in a
room does not exceed 2.5 mSv.y -1 . Provisions are made to minimise the required experimental efforts
to prove compliance with the standard. There is also a limit of 3.4 µSv.h -1 for external beta radiation
due to surface radiation (from e.g. uranium-glazed tiles), which is derived from the limit of 10 mSv.a -1
as stated in the Austrian radiation protection regulations and 8 hours/day exposure time and
corresponds to an activity concentration of about 1 Bq.cm -2 uranium in equilibrium with its progenies.

Key words: Building materials, Regulation, Standard, Radiation dose, Dose limitation