Dr. Christos Tsabaris Dr. Christos Tsabaris is a Senior Researcher of the Institute of Oceanography at HCMR. Dr. Tsabaris earned his doctoral degree in Nuclear Physics from National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), in collaboration with the Institute for Reference Material and Measurements (IRMM-JRC), Belgium. A highlight in Dr. Tsabaris’ research career in HCMR was the development of ΚΑΤΕRΙΝΑ, an Autonomous Underwater In-situ Radioactivity Sensor (the acronym comes from the Greek words which stand for “Innovative Sensor for Artificial and Natural Radioactivity”), which was patented in May 2008 (patent number: OBI 20070100282/1006066, International Sorting: G01Τ 7/00). Dr. Tsabaris has over fifty (60) publications in international journals and conferences, thirty (40) of which peer-reviewed. Twenty-five (25) publications are dedicated to in-situ gamma-ray spectroscopy and radioactivity measurements in the marine environment, eighteen (18) of which peer-reviewed. He has been several times an invited speaker in technical meetings of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as well as universities and national authorities, a reviewer in the international journals, and an evaluator of proposals.
The national agencies maintain radiation measurement systems for the determination of radioactivity in soil/sediments, water/seawater, air, food and other materials. The agencies are studying the variability of the natural radiation background across their countries in order to determine the baseline background levels at selected locations (e.g. industrial coastal zones, areas around ports hosting nuclear powered vessels, regions with enhanced levels of natural radiation NORM) and to compare them with the committed reference levels from existing international organisations.
The study of consequences of an accident due to the deposition of radioactive elements in the marine environment demands a large number of different types of marine samples (sediment, seawater and algae). The last years the in situ method exhibits many advantages (e.g. cost and time effectiveness) for this type of applications compared to lab-based method. In-situ measurements and field gamma-spectrometry has been used for a long time to analyze radionuclides on the seafloor (in qualitative manner). Furthermore, the in situ gamma-ray spectrometry method may provide identified early warning in a potential event of fallout due to an accident.