Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz

The Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz is the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection. The BfS was established in November 1989; the headquarters is located in Salzgitter, with branch offices in Berlin, Bonn, Freiburg, Gorleben, Oberschleißheim and Rendsburg. It has 708 employees and an annual budget of around 305 million Euro . Since 2009 the BfS is also responsible for the storage site of radioactive waste, Schacht Asse II.StructureThe BfS is supervised by the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). The BfS has four sub-departments. Fachbereich SK - Sicherheit in der Kerntechnik - Department for Safety in Nuclear Engineering Fachbereich SE - Sicherheit nuklearer Entsorgung - Department for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Disposal Fachbereich SG - Strahlenschutz und Gesundheit - Department for Radiation and Health Fachbereich SW - Strahlenschutz und Umwelt - Department for Radiation and the EnvironmentGamma dose rate networkThe BfS operates a gamma dose rate measurement network with about 1800 probes, uniformly distributed over Germany. The automatically working systems compare the actual level of radiation with the long term mean and sends an alert to the data centers immediately, if the radiation exceeds the threshold value. This network is a part of the German early warning system, in case of a nuclear accident. Hardware of data logger and probes as well as software are developed in-house by the BfS. On the mountain Schauinsland the BfS operates an international measurement station for gamma dose rate probe calibration and long term tests.