Monitoring environmental radiation in the ASEAN region
Part1: Thailand
What springs to mind when you think of countries like Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand or Vietnam? Depending on your current stress levels, you probably either picture them as beautiful holiday destinations or envisage their dynamic, powerful growth, driven by their highly motivated people. Thus, it is only natural that the local authorities are committed to upgrading their systems – to protect both the population and the tourists – using state-of-the-art technology.
Huge strides have now been made in ensuring public safety from radiological hazards in a regional project for the ASEAN funded by the European Union and implemented by Scienta Envinet with the support of local partners and authorities. In the framework of this project, a permanent monitoring network has been installed for the first time or an existing network significantly upgraded in all of the above countries. We will be reporting on the progress of this very exciting, beneficial project in this and the next few newsletters, one for each country, beginning with…
Thailand!
When asked about Thailand's three most outstanding features, the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT replies as follows:
"A fascinating and diverse country, Thailand is famous for many things. It is difficult to name just three outstanding features, but here are some of the aspects that make the country particularly remarkable:
1. Culture: Thai culture is unique and shaped by centuries of tradition. Thailand is also known for its colorful festivals, such as the traditional water festival Songkran and the light festival Loi Krathong.
2. Culinary diversity: renowned all over the world, Thai cuisine is loved for its flavor, spices and variety. It offers a wide range of dishes based on both local ingredients and regional culinary traditions, such as Pad Thai, Tom Yam Kung and Som Tam.
3. Sites of natural beauty and tourist attractions: Thailand is a popular destination with stunning beaches, tropical islands, spectacular temple complexes and diverse landscapes. The most popular destinations include Phuket, Koh Samui, Chiang Mai and the capital Bangkok. It also has numerous national parks that protect the country's rich flora and fauna, such as Khao Sok or Doi Inthanon."
No doubt about it, all of the above is true. However, as ChatGPT has no knowledge beyond September 2021, it is hardly surprising that it is not up to date about the recently improved network to monitor environmental radiation. The monitoring network now consists of 13 stations, 5 MIRAs to measure the local dose rate, added under the EU project, and 8 SARAs with spectroscopic functions that form the already existing network. NMC acts as the monitoring center, synchronizing and collating the data from all stations, clearly displaying the results and sending out any detection alerts. Thanks to this solution, the country is also equipped for radiological hazards with a-priori unknown nuclide vector.
And before you ask: yes, one MIRA is located in Phuket, almost on the beach. Permanently. It's enough to make you wish you were a monitoring station… Unfortunately, that's one request we'll have to turn down – but we can supply the actual monitoring stations. Best of all, it makes no difference to the monitoring stations whether they are on a beach, in the mountains, in the jungle or in ice. Our sales department will be happy to advise you. Contact our team of specialists today at
Best regards
Your Scienta Envinet Team