Stakeholder involvement in the management of effluent discharges from nuclear installations in France

The involvement of local stakeholders in the decision-making process regarding health, safety and environmental issues is developing in many countries. As far as the management of effluent discharges from nuclear installations in France is concerned, members of Local Commission of Information, including elected people and NGOs, are playing an increasing role in that respect. To deepen the understanding of these risk governance processes, a working group of experts from different institutions was set up in 2000 by the Institute of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN). Several case studies concerning the involvement of stakeholders were performed, among them: the dialogue process around the discharges of the COGEMA La Hague reprocessing plant, the role of the local liaison committees of the Fessenheim and Gravelines nuclear power plants. Four main elements, contributing to the social trust, emerge from this analysis: 1) the social dynamics of the consultation process, notably with the emergence of “new" stakeholders such as elected people and NGOs; 2) the readability of the plant follow-up from the point of view of local stakeholders and their involvement in the decision process (the relay role of these “new" stakeholders); 3) the contribution of the institutional and pluralist expertise to the social trust (broadening of the range of values taken into account); 4) the issue of the local justification of the plant in the prospect of the sustainable development (no risk being acceptable without counter-parts). This paper addresses these different issues on the basis of the case studies in the perspective of examining the radiological risk governance process

NERIS: European platform on preparedness for nuclear and radiological emergency response and recovery - Activities and perspectives

Created in 2010, the aim of the NERIS platform is to establish a forum for dialogue and methodological development among all organisations and associations taking part in decision-making of protective actions in nuclear and radiological emergencies and recovery in Europe. The objectives of the platform are to contribute to improving the effectiveness of current approaches for preparedness, promoting more coherent approaches, identifying gaps and need for further developments, addressing new and emerging challenges, and maintaining and improving know-how and technical expertise in this field. This paper describes the missions, the organisation and the activities of the platform as well as the key components of its strategic research agenda. © EDP Sciences 2016

Social, ethical and communication aspects of uncertainty management

The European project CONFIDENCE identified, conceptualised and addressed social uncertainties through a multi-method research approach. The research highlighted the uncertainties faced by publics, emergency management actors and decision-makers in nuclear emergencies and during the recovery phase. It showed that nuclear emergency management is dominated by decisions under uncertainties, that non-experts face also different uncertainties than experts, that emergency plans need a (continuous) reality check and that sound communication, openness and transparency about uncertainties may contribute to better decisions. It also suggests that national emergency response and recovery policies should consider and support the capacity of local actors to deal with an emergency or post-accident situation, for instance by carrying out their own measurements. This way, social uncertainties can be addressed and in some situations reduced, and the communication improved

Child and adult thyroid monitoring after a reactor accident (CAThyMARA): Technical recommendations and remaining gaps

International audienceFollowing a severe nuclear reactor accident large amounts of radioactive iodine are released in the atmosphere. Health consequences estimation for the affected population is based on the dose assessment which can be derived from in vivo measurements. Since the uptake of radioactive iodine increases the thyroid cancer risk of children it is of particular interest to dispose of technical recommendations on thyroid monitoring, particularly for children.This paper summarizes recommendations that have been issued by a group of European radiation protection specialists during the CAThyMARA project. It covers technical aspects such as the choice of instruments, the calibration process, the measurement preparedness, the dose assessment and communication issues. This paper also discusses remaining gaps and serves as an introduction to other papers of this special issue