Park and Euralert a german and an european computer code for the assessment of radiation doses and the management of radioactive contaminations of large areas

In the Federal Republic of Germany, an Integrated Measuring and Information System (IMIS) is under development, which is designed to allow the fast detection and systematic measurement of relevant radioecological parameters in the case of radioactive contaminations of large areas. The data, measured as well as predicted by atmospheric dispersion models, will be processed every two hours by a Program system for the Assessment of Radiological Consequences (PARK), which is essentially based on the GSF radioecological model ECOSYS. A similar program system - EURALERT - is developed for the application in the member states of the European Communities. In this case the input data are essentially the local activity concentrations in air and in rain water which can be either measured data or predicted from appropriate atmospheric dispersion models. The atmospheric dispersion models for the short, medium and long-range transport used in EURALERT will not be discussed in this paper. The main tasks of the two codes are (a) the fast predictive assessment of the radiological situation with high spatial and temporal resolution and (b) to provide the quantitative data base for decisions on the optimum counter-measures in the case of large scale contaminations. Different living habits, climatic conditions and agricultural practices in different regions can be taken easily into account. A comparison of the prognosis with measured specific activities and an easy fine adjustment of parameters like the actual phase of vegetation, actual deposition velocities, interception or transfer parameters are possible. Counter-measures are characterized by amounts and local distributions of fodder, foodstuffs or people affected by it and by the respective predicted reduction of individual and collective radiation doses