European handbook for the management of recovery options in contaminated inhabited areas following a radiation incident

Under Euranos CATIRTDO4 project the European handbook for the management of recovery options in contaminated inhabited areas following a radiation incident is developed and applied in different European countries participating at the project. Presented paper shortly describe a Handbook appointed to guide decision-makers through the available recovery options following a radiological incident dispersing radioactive material in inhabited areas. It is a generic Handbook designed for use in Europe. The emergency phase is followed by the intermediate and late phase of an accident, in the handbook so called recovery phase. Although there are no exact boundaries between the emergency and intermediate phase, the recovery phase should be seen as starting after the incident has been contained and continuing until agreed recovery criteria have been met. Although this Handbook relates to the recovery phase, not the emergency phase, it is foreseen that it may also be used in the emergency phase to provide useful information and advice and to look at the implications of emergency phase actions on any subsequent recovery strategy. The main focus of the Handbook is to give guidance that is relevant for an accidental release from a nuclear site or weapons' transport accident. However, many recovery options will also be relevant to other radiation incidents and the Handbook considers a wide range of radionuclides. The Handbook is intended for two main purposes: firstly, to assist organisations that would be responsible for implementing a recovery strategy after a radiological incident plan how they would respond to such an incident; and secondly , to aid them make decisions on recovery options in the first few months after the incident occurs. The Handbook could also provide a useful training tool. (authors)