Crisis communication in radiological and nuclear emergency response. Implementation of information strategies and concepts in concrete recommendations for action and information offerings, taking into account modern internet-based forms of communication. Final report. Overview of the overall project

The communication of content related to radioactivity, as is the responsibility of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), is a multi-layered, complex challenge. Lessons learned from past emergencies show that unclear or non-target group-specific communication can lead to an exaggerated risk perception of the population and thus exacerbate a situation, for example by promoting fears or inadequate behaviour. In addition to many years of work on communication in radiological emergency response, the BfS has also addressed the issue of psychological and social consequences of nuclear accidents. Emergency measures in nuclear accidents can represent serious interventions in people's lives. This can also be seen from research on the Chernobyl and Fukushima reactor disasters. Such and other psychosocial consequences and framework conditions must therefore be imperatively taken into account in communication. Radiological or nuclear accidents are an extreme situation also for (crisis) communication. Such accidents are associated with time pressure, so that neither time nor resources are available for broad, public discourse procedures. Authorities have to decide on protective measures, communicate them and implement and enforce decisions. This can only work if there is a high level of trust, which has to be built up in times before an event - within the framework of risk communication. For this purpose, the channels and contents must be known through which and with which the different target groups are to be addressed. The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) has specialist units that have the necessary competence to develop the technical content in the event of an incident. Furthermore, the BfS has press and public relations structures to communicate with the media and the public. In the event of an operation of the Radiological Situation Centre (RLZ), these specialised units will be transferred to a special organisational structure that also includes structures for press and public relations work. In order to achieve the above-mentioned communication goals in the "normal case" and in the event of an incident, it is necessary to prepare and elaborate strategies, concepts, information content and to keep suitable information channels and their technical infrastructure ready. For this purpose, BfS is developing a communication concept in terms of content, organisation and technology. The present project is intended to provide scientific support for this concept development and to answer specific questions on the communication strategy for this. The aim of the project is to develop and provide building blocks for a concrete practical guideline for risk and crisis communication in nuclear emergency response.