IAEA Started Development of Document Combining International Experience in Overcoming Consequences of Nuclear and Radiological Accidents

During the IAEA Expert Consultation Meeting in Vienna (Austria), an IAEA international expert and First Deputy Head of the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management (SAEZ) presented Ukrainian experience in overcoming consequences of the Chornobyl accident: activities in radioactively contaminated territories. This meeting launched developing the Safety Report with working title “Living and Work in the Areas Affected by Past Nuclear or Radiological Events and Activities”.

“Great experience has been accumulated on overcoming consequences of nuclear and radiation accidents and other events that caused large-scale radioactive contamination of populated areas. In particular, it is the Chornobyl and Fukushima tragedies, consequences of uranium mining in Canada and activities of the Semipalatinsk nuclear landfill. However, this experience is difficult to use fully, since there is no a single system for this knowledge. Therefore, we have set the goal for ourselves to compare and analyze all the information obtained from past events and to develop the Safety Report based on it. This document will help states in developing strategies to protect the public and overcome consequences of nuclear or radiological accidents in the future”, IAEA international expert, First Deputy Head of the SAEZ Oleg Nasvit says.

During the meeting, experts from Ukraine, Canada, France, Japan and Kazakhstan, together with IAEA nuclear safety experts discussed and approved document structure, its scope and issues that will be covered in it, in particular: radioecological and other types of monitoring in the territories affected by past nuclear or radiological events and activities; establishing a communication system with the public and other stakeholders to improve the management of these territories; planning activities on remediation of these territories.

It is expected that revision 1 of the draft document will be developed by the end of this year.

SAEZ Press Service