Generic guidance on the lifting of emergencycountermeasures

Abstract

Generic guidance on the withdrawal of sheltering, withdrawal of evacuation and evacuationof sheltered populations (displacement) has been developed based on previously unpublishedwork in the UK and France and on input from stakeholder panels in Germany, Belgium, Franceand the UK. The guidance is a living document that can be developed further in the future,both in its generic form and also as customised versions in some Member States. Theguidance outlines the many factors which influence the withdrawal of emergencycountermeasures: official confirmation that any release has stopped; adequacy ofmonitoring data; radiological criteria; radiological protection advice; availability ofresources; social and psychological needs; stakeholder dialogue; and communicationstrategy. The relative importance placed by decision makers on each of these criteriawould vary according to the nature and scale of the accident and also on socio-political,economic and cultural perspectives. In the event of a radiological incident, decisionmakers will need to be in a position to construct a strategy for managing the withdrawalof emergency countermeasures. For larger scale, longer duration releases involving severalnuclides, a management strategy is likely to be complex. The guidance therefore includes aseries of checklists which have been developed in conjunction with stakeholders to takeinto account the main criteria and factors which should be considered.