In accordance with the regulations in force in Poland, any activity that causes or may cause an exposure to radiation is under supervision and control. This concerns nuclear reactors used for scientific purposes and all types of institutions using sources of ionising radiation. Under control are also such activities as transportation and storage of sources of radioactivity, nuclear materials and radioactive wastes. The task of radiological protection consists of detecting these contaminations and systematic measurements of the radioactivity of the following: air, total precipitation, surface and underground water, sewage, soil, plants, food articles and food products.

In order to ensure an ability to quickly detect contamination and to do a fast survey of the radiological situation of the country, some stations measure radiological conditions of the environment as an alarm network. Its task is to conduct constant measurements of the strength of gamma radiation dosages and the radioactivity of the air.

An important task for radiological protection is the detection and control of environment contamination caused by natural radionuclides. These contaminats are the result of power-generating plants, industry and mining.

Materials gathered in landfill sites, spoil-heaps and retention ponds may contain radioactive elements in concentrations many times higher than those occurring in the environment in a natural state. That is why the utilization of slag and fly ashes for the production of building materials may lead to an increase of the ionizing radiation received by the populace. Studies of building material radioactivity conducted in Poland as well as measurements of radon concentration in the air inside residential buildings are aimed at the possibly of the biggest reduction of this threat.

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