Evaluation and validation of DSS4NAFA, updates on the development of a decision support tool for food and agriculture in nuclear and radiological emergency response

Since 2013, the SWMCN Laboratory has been, in close collaboration with member state experts from CRP D1.50.15, developing DSS4NAFA: 'Decision Support System for Nuclear Emergencies Affecting Food and Agriculture'. DSS4NAFA is an online information system for monitoring radionuclides in food and agriculture production in order to facilitate agricultural decision making and to improve nuclear emergency preparedness and response capabilities of food control and health authorities. To date, an advanced prototype of the system, incorporating data management, data visualization, and decision support components has been developed. This report serves as an update to the work published in the July 2017 Soils Newsletter Vol. 40, No. 1 titled 'Developing DSS4NAFA interface for food restriction implementation during nuclear emergencies' and will detail the progress of system development and preparations for the system's beta release in July 2018. In partnership with SCK-CEN, the Belgian nuclear research centre, and the Phoenix Leadership Programme of Hiroshima University of Japan, two interns were hosted by the SWMCN Laboratory in August and September for two weeks and one month, respectively. The interns were tasked in evaluating DSS4NAFA, and provided valuable inputs by identifying technical bugs, suggesting improvements to the User Interface and usage flow of the system, and providing feedback on the evaluation form for system testing. System modifications based on this feedback are being performed and expected to be completed before the beta release.