Achievements, difficulties and future challenges for the FARMING network

The role of experts in the development of recovery handbooks: UK and European experience

The importance of involving experts in the development of strategies for managing areas contaminated as a result of a nuclear accident is now well recognised. Following the Chernobyl accident in 1986, the initial focus, quite understandably, was on the technical aspects of reducing doses to the affected population. Subsequently, work carried out in the UK and elsewhere in Europe looked at the broader impacts of protective actions on agriculture, the environment, and society. From 1997, a group of experts from academia, government, and non-government organisations met regularly in the UK to debate these issues. One of the outputs included the first version of the UK Recovery Handbook for Radiation Incidents in 2005. Based on the success of the UK group, a European network of experts was established, leading to the development of European handbooks in 2009. The UK handbooks are living documents that are updated regularly with substantive input from experts.

Public health activities for mitigation of radiation exposures and risk communication challenges after the Fukushima nuclear accident

Herein we summarize the public health actions taken to mitigate exposure of the public to radiation after the Fukushima accident that occurred on 11 March 2011 in order to record valuable lessons learned for disaster preparedness. Evacuations from the radiation-affected areas and control of the distribution of various food products contributed to the reduction of external and internal radiation exposure resulting from the Fukushima incident. However, risk communication is also an important issue during the emergency response effort and subsequent phases of dealiing with a nuclear disaster. To assist with their healing process, sound, reliable scientific information should continue to be disseminated to the radiation-affected communities via two-way communication. We will describe the essential public health actions following a nuclear disaster for the early, intermediate and late phases that will be useful for radiological preparedness planning in response to other nuclear or radiological disasters.

ReSCA: decision support tool for remediation planning after the Chernobyl accident

Radioactive contamination of the environment following the Chernobyl accident still provide a substantial impact on the population of affected territories in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. Reduction of population exposure can be achieved by performing remediation activities in these areas. Resulting from the IAEA Technical Co-operation Projects with these countries, the program ReSCA (Remediation Strategies after the Chernobyl Accident) has been developed to provide assistance to decision makers and to facilitate a selection of an optimized remediation strategy in rural settlements. The paper provides in-depth description of the program, its algorithm, and structure.

How long is long-term? Reflections based on over 20 years of post-Chernobyl management in Norway

The radiation protection community has only recently started the important work of preparedness for long-term post-accidental management of radioactively contaminated areas, like for instance the EC projects STRATEGY, FARMING and EURANOS and the French authorities' CODIRPA and PAREX programmes. There are, however, different views concerning how long a long-term management might last. Based on the Norwegian and former Soviet Union experience after the Chernobyl accident, it is clear that a nuclear accident can entail decades of necessary management and rehabilitation of living conditions. The time period is dependent on a number of factors, e.g. amount of fallout, type of radionuclides, land use of contaminated area, number and density of people affected and available techniques and resources for implementing countermeasures. This paper discusses the management strategy implemented in Norway after the Chernobyl accident, the need for changing strategy over time and the important involvement of affected groups. Careful planning and reflections should be undertaken before actions are taken in the recovery phase, keeping in mind the possibility of decades with problems.

The STRATEGY project: decision tools to aid sustainable restoration and long-term management of contaminated agricultural ecosystems

The STRATEGY project (Sustainable Restoration and Long-Term Management of Contaminated Rural, Urban and Industrial Ecosystems) aimed to provide a holistic decision framework for the selection of optimal restoration strategies for the long-term sustainable management of contaminated areas in Western Europe. A critical evaluation was carried out of countermeasures and waste disposal options, from which compendia of state-of-the-art restoration methods were compiled. A decision support system capable of optimising spatially varying restoration strategies, that considered the level of averted dose, costs (including those of waste disposal) and environmental side effects was developed. Appropriate methods of estimating indirect costs associated with side effects and of communicating with stakeholders were identified. The importance of stakeholder consultation at a local level and of ensuring that any response is site and scenario specific were emphasised. A value matrix approach was suggested as a method of addressing social and ethical issues within the decision-making process, and was designed to be compatible with both the countermeasure compendia and the decision support system. The applicability and usefulness of STRATEGY outputs for food production systems in the medium to long term is assessed.