An action plan: “How to return back to normality after a radiological event contaminating an urban area” to be discussed at the:

CBMTS VI: The Sixth Plenary

SPIEZ LABORATORY Switzerland
30 April - 05 May 2006

           The SPIEZ LABORATORY has long been noted for its cutting edge knowledge and practices across the CBNR spectrum. AT CBMTS VI we will look very closely at the nuclear and radiological requirements that are being generated by the knowledge that a nuclear accident, incident or terrorist event could or would be catastrophic. How do we mitigate? A certain foreknowledge is required. Below is an outline of the Swiss developed action plan that will be part of the CBMTS VI discussions.

The actions following a radiological event can be divided into four groups as listed below:

1. Rescue phase - immediate actions
• Control of access
• Immediate care of people with traumatic injuries
• Triage dose assessment
• Psychological triage and disposition
• Respiratory protection

2. Rescue phase - urgent actions
• Personal decontamination
• Sheltering
• Refined dose assessment
• Evacuation
• Depending on the situation: Iodine prophylaxis

3. Recovery phase
• Biological assays, dose assessment
• Controlling food, water and other commodities
• Temporary relocation and resettlement

4. Restoration phase
• Cleanup, decontamination
• Management of radioactive waste
• Radioactive residues
• Management of corpses
• Discontinuation of protective actions
• Final dose assessment

           Action plans have been prepared for the first three groups in most countries. However, the intervention levels, when to shelter or evacuate people living in the contaminated area, vary from one country to the other. The aim of this topic is to discuss those differences.

           In contrast to the first three phases, only little has been done, or even is known - mainly due to a lack of experience - for the restoration phase. Decontamination measures can be very expensive. Therefore an optimisation of these measures is of great importance.

           The aim of this topic is to share the knowledge on decontamination effectiveness of different techniques for streets, roofs, gardens etc. for different environments. Questions like "what to decontaminate first with which technique in which environment in order to maximize dose reduction while minimizing costs of measures" should be discussed. There are tools to assess dose reduction as a function of implemented measures. What's their value to support decision makers?