TERRITORIES: To Enhance unceRtainties Reduction and stakeholders Involvement for radiological Exposure Situations - DSA's participation

The TERRITORIES project was a large European project involving 11 institutes working in the field of radiation protection. The main aim of the project was to improve the risk management of radioactively contaminated sites by refining assessment approaches and developing better communication tools. The focus was on sites that have been contaminated in the long term, i.e. over many years, and included areas where elevated levels of naturally occurring radionuclides were present. The Norwegian project partners, DSA/strålevern and the Norwegian University of Life sciences, chose a case study site at the Fen Field in Norway. For this region information on radioactivity had been collected and assessments were made to see how well model results matched observation. If the match was not so good, suggestion have been made as to where improvements in the approaches might be made. Other work performed by DSA include a presentation of Norwegian dietary habits and time-use results, and a summary of diets of special population groups (i.e., mainly reindeer herders). In the work on variability in wildlife behaviour, results from GPS collared reindeer from Jotunheimen have been used to illustrate variability in internal doses and how various factors affect exposure estimates. Communication through dialogue with various groups of people was an important part of the TERRITORIES project. Workshops were arranged to explore different scientific themes. It was especially important to discuss the theme of uncertainty. How confident can we be that our approaches are giving realistic answers and how far wrong can our results be? Some work was focussed on remediation strategies. What is the best approach to apply in cleaning up contaminated areas? This involves consideration of all benefits (e.g., dose reduction), disadvantages and costs of implementing mitigating actions for all affected groups (e.g. people living in the affected territory, remediation workers, consumers). The project was completed in 2019 and produced a large number of guidance documents. These will be important in supporting ongoing environmental management practices within the field of radiation protection.

Some of the main outputs from the TERRITORIES project are documents providing guidance on (i) best modelling practice and (ii) inclusion of uncertainty analysis in assessments. The project has strengthened methodologies to account for spatial variability in dose assessments and provides new tools to assist decision making in relation to remediation of sites contaminated with radioactivity. Outcomes will be clearly seen in an increased competency of scientists tasked with providing robust impact assessments, improving existing assessment methodologies with more convincing information concerning uncertainties. The TERRITORIES project has led to increased interdisciplinary (notably collaboration with meteorologists and statisticians) and international research collaboration (close contacts have been forged with scientists across Europe). Further impacts can be identified in the adoption of the various developments made by the public administration and in communication with stakeholders.

The research and innovation actions of TERRITORIES are organised in five work packages. WP1 (Quantifying variability and reducing uncertainties when characterizing exposure of humans and wildlife by making the best use of data from monitoring and of existing models) targets mechanistic fit-for-purpose knowledge for diagnosis and prognosis of the environmental behaviour of the radionuclides and exchanges with the public. WP2 (Reducing uncertainties when characterizing exposure scenarios, accounting for human and wildlife behaviour, and integrating social and ethical considerations in the management of uncertainties) aims to validate the added value of a realistic description of the exposure scenarios versus a generic scenario approach, and to integrate social and ethical considerations about uncertainties. WP3 (Stakeholder engagement for a better management of uncertainty in risk assessment and decision-making processes including remediation strategies) develops methods for a holistic management of uncertainties associated with remediation (dose reduction, socio-economic cost, generated waste amount etc.) and for an integrated decision-making process. WP4 (Strategic and integrated communication, education and training) aims to share with a wide audience (stakeholders and decision-makers, young scientists, students) the methodological approach and novel guidance documents developed. Last, coordination between work packages, between partners, and with the steering committee is achieved through WP5 (Project coordination and management). The project is a collaboration between 11 institutes from France (IRSN, CEPN, Mutadis), Germany (BfS), UK (PHE), Norway (DSA and NMBU), Belgium (SCK-CEN), Estonia (UoT), Finland (STUK), Spain (CIEMAT). The project started in January 2017 and has a duration of 36 months. This proposal is for DSA's participation in the Project for 2019 (support for 2018 was provided earlier by NFR).