The 5^th edition of the Community Days took place on 4 and 5 June in Orléans. It provided an opportunity for people to meet and engage in fruitful discussions on the challenges facing Openradiation’s development and a campaign of measurements around the Dampierre nuclear power station.

Organised for the first time in the region, in collaboration with the Dampierre Local Initiative Committee (CLI), this 5th edition of Contributors’ Day brought together more than 30 contributors. 

Two key events marked these two days of meetings. 

The first took place on Thursday 4 June at the Pavillon de la Culture in Orléans. A programme of presentations provided an overview of developments within the OpenRadiation network, including: 

- A discussion of the limitations and opportunities of the OpenRadiation network, with a review of the scientific projects in which OpenRadiation is involved. This highlights the potential for future development of initiatives centred on OpenRadiation; 

- A review of the results of the survey conducted in 2025 amongst contributors. This survey helped to identify areas for improvement regarding the applications, the map and the website, and to discuss contributors’ wishes; 

- A review of the 2025 National Resilience Days and plans for the 2026 edition, led by ANCCLI;

- And the creation of a video on assembling the sensor kits proposed by Philippe Massiot, a contributor keen to get involved in educational initiatives centred on OpenRadiation;

Links to all the presentations are provided below. These various presentations also provided an opportunity to showcase the latest updates to the website, the map and the app, as well as the new CitizenRad sensor model. The rest of the day was spent discussing preparations for the following day. 

C. Simon presenting possible technical evolutions of the detectors. Credit: C. Lajouanine/Planète Sciences

K. Basol presenting the communication strategy of OpenRadiation. Credit:  C. Lajouanine/Planète Sciences 

A public interested ... Crédit: M. Michel/CLI de Dampierre

A rush to the detectors. Credit: Crédit: K. Basol/ANCCLI

The following day, saw this year’s major new initiative and the second highlight of the event: a measurement campaign was carried out by participants around the Dampierre-en-Burly nuclear power plant. Five walking routes were mapped out, ranging from 5 to 6 km in length. Participants were able to use the ‘serial’ measurement mode, which optimised the duration of each measurement and thus allowed for the maximum number of measurements to be taken. Once gathered at the community centre, the walkers were able to publish their measurements and provide an initial, immediate feedback on the campaign. Nearly 250 measurements were taken during the morning, showing that ambient radioactivity levels are within the average range observed across France, with values ranging from 0.05 µSv/h to 0.20 µSv/h. This debriefing also provided an opportunity to share feedback on using the detector and the app, as well as any difficulties encountered. Nevertheless, the participants expressed their satisfaction at having been able to begin a citizen-led mapping of radioactivity in the municipality of Dampierre-en-Burly. This initiative demonstrates the potential of citizen-led measurement as a key component of environmental monitoring around a nuclear facility. 

By the end of the walk for a group. Credit: K. Basol/ANCCLI

The Dampierre-en-Burly nuclear power plant. Credit:  C. Lajouanine/Planète Sciences 

Results presentation meeting. Credit: M. Michel, CLI de Dampierre

You can find all the press reviews below. 

Next year, OpenRadiation will celebrate its 10th anniversary – a remarkable achievement for a citizen science network. This will be an opportunity to organise another exceptional contributors’ day to facilitate meetings and exchanges between contributors.