Decision making for late-phase recovery from nuclear or radiological incidents: new guidance from NCRP

In 2010, the US National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) established a scientific committee (SC5-1) to prepare a comprehensive report on the framework and approach for optimising decision making in late-phase recovery from nuclear or radiological incidents that lead to wide-area contamination. The NCRP report builds on recommendations from the International Commission on Radiological Protection’s (ICRP) Publication 111 which specifically addresses the protection of people living in long-term contaminated areas. Based on this approach, the report addresses all relevant dimensions: health, environment, economic, psychological, cultural, ethical, and political. NCRP, like ICRP, considers optimisation to be the best approach to decision making for balancing these multiple risk factors in situations involving wide-area contamination where the conventional clean-up approach may encounter some serious constraints. The NCRP report describes optimisation as an iterative process that can be broken down into a series of steps, all of which involve deliberations with stakeholders as a necessary element for a community-focused recovery effort. The steps, elaborated on in the report, range from defining the situation to a series of actions involving assessing impacts, evaluating options, developing a strategy, and demonstrating its successful implementation. In conclusion, the NCRP report makes a series of recommendations aimed at enhancing and strengthening late-phase recovery following a major nuclear or radiological incident.