Aerial monitoring of environmental radioactivity: summary
Published 5 September 2025
Applies to England
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1. Chief Scientist’s Group report summary
This project explored the potential applications of drones for monitoring radioactivity in the environment, now and in the future. The project reviewed the published scientific literature to understand the current and future capabilities of drone systems for environmental radioactivity monitoring.
The findings will help to inform the Environment Agency on the potential use of drones for future independent monitoring programmes and aid the regulation of the nuclear industry.
1.1 Background
Drones are uncrewed aerial vehicles that are available in various sizes and with different wing systems and power units. The coupling of drones with radiation detectors and position measurement devices already represents a promising technology system for monitoring radioactivity in the environment. However, the wide range of different devices available for each system component makes it difficult to identify the optimal drone configuration for a specific monitoring objective. It is also unclear when drone systems might be more effective than conventional ground-based monitoring techniques. Increased knowledge of the benefits and limitations of drone systems would help address these uncertainties.
1.2 Approach
A review of the state of the research and future prospects of drone-based technologies for monitoring radioactivity in the environment was conducted. The project evaluated the suitability of drone systems for this purpose through five test scenarios:
- monitoring around a legacy industrial site such as an abandoned uranium mine
- routine monitoring close to a permitted discharge from a licensed nuclear site
- localisation of radioactive objects or lost radioactive sources
- mapping widespread radioactive contamination in the environment following a major nuclear accident
- mapping radioactive contamination in the urban environment after a radiation incident.
The project examined trends in technological developments and assessed the potential capabilities of drone systems in the future for environmental radioactivity monitoring.
1.3 Results
The latest evidence shows that drone systems may offer certain advantages over ground-based techniques for monitoring radioactivity in the environment. Drones can often monitor areas which are difficult or hazardous for a human operator to access, such as sandbanks, nature reserves, roofs, and heavily contaminated areas. They can also usefully present monitoring data as a radioactivity map. Nevertheless, current drone systems are constrained by maximum flight times and weight payloads and can only readily monitor gamma radiation. These limitations mean drones may offer no additional benefits for some monitoring tasks such as locating radioactive materials when compared to existing ground-based monitoring approaches.
1.4 Conclusions
The project evaluated the prospects of drone systems for monitoring radioactivity in the environment. Drones are not expected to fully surpass the advantages of established ground-based monitoring techniques, now and in the future. Rather, drone systems have the potential to complement and extend existing environmental monitoring practices. This is important for both the Environment Agency and those we regulate (such as the nuclear industry) who routinely monitor radioactivity in the environment.
1.5 Publication details
This summary relates to information from project SC240042, reported in detail in the following output:
- Report: SC240042
- Title: Aerial monitoring of environmental radioactivity
- Project manager: Adam Lang, Air, Land and Water Research, Chief Scientist’s Group
- Research contractor: Eden Nuclear and Environment Ltd
This project was commissioned by the Environment Agency’s Chief Scientist’s Group, which provides scientific knowledge, tools and techniques to enable us to protect and manage the environment as effectively as possible.
Enquiries: research@environment-agency.gov.uk.
© Environment Agency