Cumulatie van milieurisico's voor de mens: geografische verschillen in Nederland

The question whether there are correlations between observed geographical differences in human health and risks due to several types of environmental contamination led to the project 'Accumulation of environmental risks'. The project aimed, firstly, at developing methods to illustrate these geographical differences and, secondly, at applying these methods. The methods are applied to map the risks due to possible severe accidents (external safety), radioactive substances and radiation, substances in air, and environmental noise. The investigation resulted in two reports. The main report contains a general description of the methods applied and the maps created. The accompanying background document (report no. 610127002) focuses on the details of the methods and on the data used. In spite of the complexity of the discussions on risk-related subjects, it appears that by applying the methods developed insight has been obtained into the geographical distribution and the proportions of risks. These methods are based on the risk concept which is implemented in the environmental policy in the Netherlands. The geographical distribution of risks differs greatly between external safety and noise on the one hand and radiation and substances on the other hand. The maps for external safety and noise show high risks on a local scale ; there are areas where risk for these two categories is equal to zero (areas without sources of danger or disturbing noise). Spatial coincidence of external safety risks rarely occurs. Especially for noise the areas of zero risk are smaller than those shown by the maps because the lack of information made a significant part of the risk incalculable. Spatial coincidence of environmental noise occurs mainly near junctions of transport lines and near (large) airports. The risks due to radiation and substances, on the contrary, cover large parts of the Netherlands, with local increases near large (industrial) sources. Peaks in risks on scales less than 500 or 100 m, e.g. near road traffic, are not visible on the maps.