Article

COVID-19 pandemic impact on the Spanish radiation protection professionals

¹ Departamento de Ingeniería Energética, ETSI Industriales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
² Laboratorio de Radiactividad Ambiental, MEDASEGI Research Group, Universitat Politècnica de València, València, Spain
³ Centro Nacional de Dosimetría (CND), Instituto Nacional de Gestión Sanitaria, València, Spain
⁴ Department of Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering in Bilbao, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain
⁵ Institut de Tècniques Energètiques, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain
⁶ Unitat de Radioquímica Ambiental i Sanitària, Departament de Química Analítica i Química Orgànica, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
⁷ Nuclear Protection Evaluation Center (CEPN), Fontenay-aux-Roses, France

^* Corresponding author: roberto.gabaonza@alumnos.upm.es

Received: 13 March 2022
Accepted: 18 May 2022

Abstract

The pandemic situation, originated due to the appearance of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, changed many aspects of our lives and jobs. This health crisis also affected the day-to-day work of radiation protection experts, including the wide range of areas involved in this sector. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of this pandemic on the Spanish radiation protection experts. For that purpose, a Google Forms online survey was developed with 39 questions. The survey covered different aspects related to the work developed by the Spanish professionals, taking into account three different time periods along the pandemic situation. According to this survey, the appearance of COVID-19 modified the labour conditions and modalities of many Spanish radiation protection professionals, especially at the beginning of the pandemic. Most on-site activities were related to the health sector and the nuclear industry, other sectors were more flexible, and the workload increased for half of the surveyed participants. Many operational activities suffered delays due to the pandemic, whereas the one-month wearing period of passive personal dosimeters was extended in most cases during the first Spanish alarm state (15th March 2020 up to the 21st June 2020). Finally, difficulties faced in terms of the working area have been identified and may be useful for the future.