Radioecological Emergency preparedness and remediation

The key aims of the 6th Framework EURANOS project were to collate information on the likely effectiveness and consequences of a wide range of countermeasures and to provide guidance to emergency management organisations and decision makers on the establishment of an appropriate response strategies. EURANOS also enhanced advanced decision support systems, in particular RODOS, through feedback from their operational use; created regional initiatives leading to information exchange based on state-of-the-art information technologies and to create guidance to assist Member States to develop a framework for the sustainable rehabilitation of living conditions in contaminated areas. The project maintained and enhanced knowledge and competence through emergency exercises, training and education.

Publications

• Key publications which can be found on the EURANOS website include datasheets for countermeasures for use agricultural and inhabited areas and handbooks on the management of contaminated food production systems, contaminated inhabited areas and drinking water
• More information and key publications (such as guidance handbooks) can be found on then project website: EURANOS
• A special issue of Radioprotection 'Enhancing nuclear and radiological emergency management and rehabilitation: Key Results of the EURANOS European project' also contains further information.

The EVANET-HYDRA project focused on the assessment of the main features of selected state-of-the-art computerised Decision Support Systems (DSS) for the off-site management of freshwater ecosystems contaminated by radionuclides. It had four objectives: to review and assess the DSSs to ensure that they comply with expectations and needs of potential users; to identify and classify the approaches of the different DSSs; to define their application domains and to synthesize the experience gained for improving the DSSs; and for the rational utilization of the existing products.

Publications

• Final report
• Hofman D. et al. (2011) Computerised Decision Support Systems for the management of freshwater radioecological emergencies: assessment of the state-of-the-art with respect to the experiences and needs of end-users. J. Environ. Radioact., 102, 119-127.
• Monte L. et al. (2009) The role of physical processes controlling the behaviour of radionuclide contaminants in the aquatic environment: a review of state-of-the-art modelling approaches. J. Environ. Radioact., 100, 779-784.
• Kryshev I.I. et al. (2009) Model testing of radioactive contamination by 90Sr, 137Cs and 239,240Pu of water and bottom sediments in the Techa River (Southern Urals, Russia). Sci. Tot. Environ., 407, 2349-2360.
• Goutal N. et al. (2008) Assessment, validation and intercomparison of operational models for predicting tritium migration from routine discharges of nuclear power plants: the case of Loire River. J.Environ. Radioact., 99, 367-382.
• Monte L. et al. (2005) Review and assessment of models for predicting the migration of radionuclides through rivers. J. Environ. Radioact., 79, 273-296.
• EVANET - HYDRA Network Evaluation and network of EC-decision support systems in the field of hydrological dispersion models and of aquatic radioecological research - Assessment of environmental models and software.

The 4th Framework project EVANET-TERRA focused on the assessment of Decision Support Systems (DSSs) adopted by a number of EC projects to assess transfer for three major terrestrial ecosystems: natural/semi-natural, agricultural and urban. Once evaluated, the codes were combined to derive a holistic ecosystem approach covering the terrestrial environmental transfer of radionuclides leading to the exposure of man. The remediation strategies considered were critically evaluated and recommendations for their application in Europe defined.

Different scenarios were constructed to allow a direct comparison of the outcome of the codes such as activity concentrations, doses and dose reductions due to different remediation actions. Organisations and agencies involved in environmental protection were included to ensure that the software met expectations of different potential end users.

Publications

• Tarsitano D. et al. (2005) EVANET-TERRA - evaluation and network of EC - decision support systems in the field of terrestrial radioecological research. Radioprot., 40, S261-S268.

The aims of this project were to: create a European network initially in five Member States and involving more than 50 individual stakeholders, to assist in the development of robust and practicable strategies for restoring and managing contaminated rural areas sustainably; to carry out a comprehensive evaluation of these strategies under the diverse range of food production systems encompassed by the participating Member States and to establish lines of communication between those organisations who have not hitherto collectively considered the implications of contamination of the food chain.

Publications

• Nisbet A.F. et al. (2005) Variation in stakeholder opinion on countermeasures across Europe. J. Environ. Radioact., 83, 371-381.
• Nisbet A.F. et al. (2005) Achievements, difficulties and future challenges for the FARMING Network. J. Environ. Radioact., 83, 263-274.
• Alexender C. et al. (2005) Stakeholder involvement facilitates decision making for UK nuclear accident recovery. J. Environ. Radioact., 83, 297-303.
• Ioannides K.G. et al. (2005) Stakeholder involvement in nuclear crisis management in Greece. J. Environ. Radioact., 83, 347-357
• Jullien T. et al. (2005) The FARMING approach: main results and perspectives of the French FARMING groups. J. Environ. Radioact., 83, 333-345.
• Rantavaara A. et al. (2005) Finnish stakeholder engagement in the restoration of a radioactively contaminated food supply chain. J. Environ. Radioact., 83, 305-317.

These two 5th Framework thematic clusters aimed to provide platforms for information and data exchange between 'complimentary' projects.

MOSES provided a platform for the following four research projects: ASTRID (Development of a Methodology and of a Computer Tool for Source-term Estimation in Case of Nuclear Emergency in a Light-water Reactor); EVATECH (Information Requirements and Countermeasure Evaluation Techniques in Nuclear Emergency Management); MODEM (Monitoring Data and Information Exchange among Decision-support Systems) and STERPS (A Rapid Response Source-term Indicator Based on Plant Status for Use in Emergency Response) pertaining to the European Commission’s radiation protection key action programme for off site emergency management. Links were also made to the SAGE (Strategies and Guidance for Establishing a Practical Radiation Protection Culture in Europe in Case of Long-term Radioactive Contamination after a Nuclear Accident) project and the thematic clusters EVANET-TERRA and EVANET-HYDRA.

SAMEN provided a platform for the following four research projects and three thematic networks. These were: DAONEM (Data Assimilation for Off-site Nuclear Emergency Management; DSSNET (Improvement, Extension and Integration of Operational Decision-support Systems for Nuclear Emergency Management); ECCOMAGS (European Calibration and Coordination of Mobile and Airborne Gamma Spectrometry; ENSEMBLE (Methods to Reconcile Disparate National Forecasts of Medium and Long-range Atmospheric Dispersion; FARMING (Food and Agriculture Restoration Management Involving Networked Groups; RODOS Migration (Migration of RODOS to Practical Applicability for Supporting Decisions in Operational Emergency Response to Nuclear Accidents) and STRATEGY (Sustainable Restoration and Long-term Management of Contaminated Rural, Urban and Industrial Ecosystems).

This project was set up to evaluate the feasibility of short-rotation coppice for energy production as a contaminated land management option.

Publications

• Final report
• Goor F. Main economic parameters for the growing and conversion of willow SRC: overview and sensitivity analysis. Project deliverable.
• Vandenhove H. et al. (2001) Short rotation coppice for revaluation of contaminated land. J. Environ. Radioact., 56, 157-184.
• Gommers A. et al. (2000) Radiocesium uptake by one-year-old willows planted as short rotation coppice. J. Environ. Qual., 29, 1384-1390.
• Vandenhove H. et al. (2004) Short Rotation Coppice as Alternative Land Use for Chernobyl-Contaminated Areas of Belarus. Int. J. Phytoremediat., 6, 139-156.
• Vandenhove H. et al. (2002) Economic viability of short rotation coppice for energy production for reuse of caesium-contaminated land in Belarus. Biomass and Bioenergy, 22, 421-431.

A lot of nuclear facilities in Europe have reached the end of their as designed life expectancy. While the installations will be subject to controlled decommissioning, in many cases contamination has been dispersed over the site or is contained by methods inappropriate for long-term storage. The clean-up of these parts of the sites by conventional techniques is expensive and may be questionable on the basis of cost-benefit evaluations. These problems are well known e.g. the large clean-up programmes of former military sites in the U.S.

The U.S.experience shows that the application of alternative techniques, e.g. in-situ remediation is hampered by the lack of transparent risk assessments considering the exposure of the present and future populations and of the workers. The main objective of this co-ordinated project was to develop a transparent and robust method for evaluating and ranking restoration strategies for radioactively contaminated sites (carried out under the Fourth Framework of the Nuclear Fission Safety Programme of the EU). Four contaminated sites were studied in detail.

Publications

• Key publications and deliverables can be found on the the project website: RESTRAT
• Zeevaert T. et al. (2001) Evaluation and ranking of restoration strategies for radioactively contaminated sites. J. Environ. Radioact., 56, 33-50.
• Jackson D. et al. (1999) Establishing a method for assessing and ranking restoration strategies for radioactively contaminated sites and their immediate surroundings. Nucl. Energy, 38, 223-231.

Using experimental data collated after the Chernobyl accident the RESTORE project focused on the development of an environmental decision support system (EDSS) which could be applied to radioactive contaminated areas in the former Soviet Union. The environmental management system created (RESTORE-EDSS) was based on an understanding of the processes and routes by which radioactivity is transferred (to human foodstuffs) in a variety of ecosystems, and considered both internal and external doses.

The RESTORE-EDSS was designed to assess and direct the use of countermeasures to reduce radiation doses to humans, taking into account minimisation of adverse socio-economic effects. Thus an important objective was the provision of strategies to enable the affected population to reduce their own dose. The SAVE-IT model was used to predict the transfer of radiocaesium in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. The project was successfully linked to a variety of complementary INCO-Copernicus and ISTC projects which enabled interaction and collaboration with NIS partners in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Publications

• Final report
• Burrough P.A. et al. (1999) Environmental mobility of radiocaesium in the Pripyat catchment, Ukraine, Belarus. Water, Air Soil Poll., 110, 35-55.
• Beresford N.A. et al. (2001) Self-help countermeasure strategies for populations living within contaminated areas of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. J. Environ. Radioact., 56, 215-239.
• Howard B.J. et al. (2004) Radiostrontium contamination of soil and vegetation within the Semipalatinsk test site. Radiat. Environ. Biophy., 43, 285-292.
• Firsakova S.K. et al. (2000) An example of rehabilitation strategies for radioactive contaminated areas in Belarus. J. Environ. Radioact., 48, 23 - 33.
• Ratinkov A.N. et al. (1998) The use of hexacyanoferrates in different forms to reduce radiocaesium contamination of animal products in Russia. Sci. Tot. Environ., 223, 167-176.
• Skuterud L. et al. (1997) Contribution of fungi to radiocaesium intake by rural populations in Russia. Sci. Tot. Environ., 193, 237-242.
• van der Perk M. et al. (1998) GIS-based modelling to identify regions of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia affected by residues of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident. J. Hazard. Mat., 61, 85-90.

The STRATEGY project aimed to produce a documented framework for sustained restoration of areas contaminated by radioactivity. The outputs were: the first interactive web mounted countermeasure database; guidance on ethical and social considerations for restoration management; a framework for non-market cost benefit analyses within countermeasure strategies.

A spatially implemented model brought together all these outputs with the SAVE model to aid the identification of optimal remediation strategies. The project worked in close collaboration with the FARMING, WISDOM and RESTORE projects. For example, the outputs of STRATEGY were used and evaluated within the EC funded FARMING stakeholder network and the countermeasure database developed within STRATEGY was subsequently extended and improved in the EURANOS project

Publications

• Final report
• Álverez-Farizo B. et al. (2009) Impacts from restoration strategies: Assessment through valuation workshops. Ecol. Econ., 68, 787-797.
• Cox G. et al. (2005) Identifying optimal agricultural countermeasure strategies for a hypothetical contamination scenario using the strategy model. J. Environ. Radioact., 83, 383-397.
• Howard B.J. et al. (2004) A critical evaluation of the STRATEGY project. Radiat. Prot. Dosim., 109, 63-67.

The main aim of TEMAS was to develop a management tool to assist with decision making for restoration strategies when intervention is required in different environmental systems (urban, agricultural, semi-natural and forest) following a nuclear accident.

The main objective of this 6th Framework project was to make a practicable handbook for the effective and timely triage, monitoring and treatment of people exposed to radiation following a malevolent act. European national emergency response plans had previously focused on accidents at nuclear power plants and other nuclear installations.

However, the possible threats by disaffected groups shifted the focus to also prepare for terrorist acts involving the malevolent use of ionising radiation that are aimed at creating disruption and panic in society. The project produced a handbook: “Triage, Monitoring and Treatment of people exposed to radiation following a malevolent act” to address the need for consistent, coherent and harmonized guidelines across Europe.

Publications

• Rojas-Palma C. et al. (2009) TMT Handbook - Triage, monitoring and treatment of people exposed to ionising radiation following a malevolent act. Oesteras: Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority.
• del Rosario Pérez M. et al. (2010) A new handbook on triage, monitoring and treatment of people following malevolent use of radiation. Health Phys., 98, 898-902.

The overall objective of the workshop was to provide a forum to promote the wider application of stakeholder involvement in developing an holistic approach to restoration strategies within Europe. Senior representatives from government and non-government organisations from all Member States were invited to the workshop to learn about current advances in stakeholder engagement in decision making, particularly with regard to sustainable restoration of rural areas following a nuclear accident.

The workshop provided an opportunity for stakeholders from the FARMING network (see above) and those working on state-of-the-art restoration strategies within the STRATEGY project to present key aspects of their activities. It also provided a platform for the future expansion of the FARMING network and exploitation of the STRATEGY framework in Europe. The proceedings from the workshop were published in a special issue of the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity Stakeholder involvement in post accident management.

Publications

• Nisbet A.F. & Mercer J. A. (2004) Overview of the WISDOM stakeholder workshop on restoration management. Radiat. Protect. Dosim., 109, 101-104.
• Nisbet A.F. et al. (Eds.) (2005) Workshop to extend the involvement of stakeholders in decisions on restoration management. J. Environ. Radioact., 83, 259-261.