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AbstractAbstract
[en] The purpose of this presentation is not to have a theoretical explanation about risk communication but rather to give some practical communication hints we learned from the Regional Emergency Exercise Belgonucleaire had a few months ago. Belgonucleaire fabricates Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel since 1973. This fuel is produced at Belgonucleaire's plant at Dessel, which is located in the vicinity of other Belgian plants related to the nuclear sector. Every year Belgonucleaire organises an Internal Emergency Exercise and every 3 years a Regional Emergency Exercise. The purpose of this Emergency Exercise is to make sure that Belgonucleaire is capable of successfully handling in cooperation with the other plants in the nuclear sector, the authorities and security teams a hypothetical crisis scenario. The scenario elaborated this time was that due to a tear in a glove some radioactivity was emitted and because the filter system failed some of this radioactivity came into the air. Some contamination could be measured. The goal of this Emergency Exercise is multiple: to bring under control and to master an emergency situation; to emit an immediate warning to and to protect the employees and the visitors present on the site; to communicate essential information to the security service and co-ordination centre of the government in conformance with the emergency plan for nuclear risks on the Belgian territory. Communication plays a vital role in this emergency organisation plan. It concerns contacts with the authorities (at federal, regional and local level), the nearby-located plants, the support- and emergency services and last but not least with the media. In addition a communication cell was set up at the Dessel Town Hall. An established relationship with all of the organisation's stakeholders based on credibility and trust is the best insurance policy for handling communications during a crisis. This is indeed a process we work on the whole year round. A proactive communication policy is necessary because communication at the moment of the accident is, given the stress, very tough. The primary objective of risk communications is not to change public opinion about the extent of the risk but rather to build trust about the corporate commitment to contain and control it. Efforts to educate about systems which control and reduce risk and work to contain it can give the outsider confidence. Such communications tell the audience that the corporation is not minimising the concern but actually shares the concern. So Belgonucleaire tried to follow the basic rule of crisis communications
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European Nuclear Society (ENS), Berne (Switzerland); 170 p; 1999; p. 100-104; ENS PIME '99: 11. international workshop on nuclear public information in practice; Avignon (France); 7-10 Feb 1999; 1 fig
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Conference
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