Strategies and guidance for establishing a practical radiation protection culture in Europe in case of long term radioactive contamination after a nuclear accident: The SAGE Project

¹ Centre d'Étude sur l'Évaluation de la Protection dans le Domaine Nucléaire (CEPN), Route du Panorama, BP. 48, 92263 Fontenay-aux-Roses Cedex, France e-mail: lepicard@cepn.asso.fr
² Forschunzszentrum für Umwelt und Gesundheit (GSF), Germany
³ The Belarusian Institute of Radiation Safety (BELRAD), Belarus
⁴ National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), UK
⁵ Brest Branch of the Research Institute of Radiology (BB RIR), Belarus

Abstract

The evaluation of the rehabilitation strategies implemented in the contaminated territories of the CIS countries affected by the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant highlighted the need and importance to involve the population in the day-to-day management of the radiological situation, to complement the rehabilitation programme implemented by public authorities. The ETHOS experience in Belarus has revealed that to be effective and sustainable, this involvement must rely on the dissemination of a practical radiological protection culture within all sectors of the population and especially within professionals in charge of public health. The objective of the SAGE Project is to contribute to the development of strategies and guidance for implementing and disseminating such a culture in Western Europe, in case of a nuclear incident or accident with long-term radiological consequences. This paper presents the structure of the project, the stakeholder involvement process which has driven its realisation and the handbook on practical radiation protection culture which was elaborated, with different associated computer tools for people living in a contaminated territory.