Monitoring Results

In response to the construction of nuclear power stations at Daya Bay in Guangdong, the Hong Kong Observatory embarked in 1983 on a comprehensive programme to monitor the environmental radiation levels in Hong Kong before and after the power plants commenced operation.

The programme includes the Environmental Radiation Monitoring Programme (ERMP) which consists of two phases. The first phase is known as the Background Radiation Monitoring Programme (BRMP) and was conducted in the 5-year period from 1987 to 1991 to establish the baseline radiation levels in Hong Kong prior to the operation of the Guangdong Nuclear Power Station (GNPS) in 1994. These baseline levels would help to reflect any changes arising from the operation of GNPS.

The second phase of the ERMP, implemented since 1992, contains all the essential features of the BRMP but with adjustments in sampling and measurement to take advantage of the experience gained. The ERMP is an on-going programme to detect long-term changes in environmental radiation levels in Hong Kong, if any, particularly those arising from the operation of the GNPS and the Lingao Nuclear Power Station (LNPS) since 1994 and 2002 respectively.

The monitoring results of the BRMP and ERMP can be found in the respective reports. From 2003 onwards, the annual reports of ERMP only contain the most salient features of the programme, including summaries of measurement methods and results, highlights of new work, changes and measures introduced during the year. Readers may refer to the previous reports for details of the sampling, measurement and quality assurance work.