Natural radioactivity in European drinking water: A review

More than three quarters of the dose from ionizing radiation is caused by natural radiation sources. In most European countries, groundwater is used as a source of drinking water, what can be an additional source of radiation since naturally occurring radionuclides in the bedrock can dissolve into groundwater. Although the Directive 2013/51/EURATOM establishes several parametric and screening values for different radioactivity parameters, there is a lack of harmonized information and publications available that evaluate the overall condition of drinking water in EU. Thereby, it is challenging to uniformly assess the current situation in European countries in regards of effective doses caused by the consumption of drinking water. This paper aims to collect the available information on the main radionuclides of interest in drinking waters of different European countries and create an overview of the existing situation.