ETHOS is a pilot research project supported by the radiation protection research program of the European Commission (DG XII). The project provides an alternative approach to the rehabilitation of living conditions in the contaminated territories of the CIS in the post-accident context of Chernobyl. Initiated at the beginning of 1996, this 3-y project is currently being implemented in the Republic of Belarus. The ETHOS project involves an interdisciplinary team of European researchers from the following institutions: the Centre d'etude sur l'Evaluation de la Protection dans le domaine Nucleaire CEPN (radiological protection, economics), the Institute National d'Agronomie de Paris-Grignon INAPG (agronomy, nature & life management), the Compiegne University of Technology (technological and industrial safety, social trust), and the Mutadis Research Group (sociology, social risk management), which is in charge of the scientific co-ordination of the project. The Belarussian partners in the ETHOS project include the Ministry of Emergencies of Belarus as well as the various local authorities involved with the implementation site. The ETHOS project relies on a strong involvement of the local population in the rehabilitation process. Its main goal is to create conditions for the inhabitants of the contaminated territories to reconstruct their overall quality of life. This reconstruction deals with all the day-to-day aspects that have been affected or threatened by the contamination. The project aims at creating a dynamic process whereby acceptable living conditions can be rebuilt. Radiological security is developed in the ETHOS project as part of a general improvement in the quality of life. The approach does not dissociate the social and the technical dimensions of post-accident management. This is so as to avoid radiological risk assessment and management being reduced purely to a problem for scientific experts, from which local people are excluded, and to take into consideration the problems of acceptability of decisions and the distrust of the population towards experts. These cannot be solved merely by a better communication strategy. This paper presents the main features of the methodological approach of the ETHOS project. It also explains how it is being implemented in the village of Olmany in the district of Stolyn (Brest region) in Belarus since March 1996, as well as its initial achievements.

Experience following the Chernobyl accident in the CIS and the EU has clearlydemonstrated that policies and strategies for long-term management of extensive contaminated areas must give due importance to social, cultural, ethical, environmental, economic and political factors beyond the sole radiological protection and health perspective. What is at stake in the long-term response to such a situation is the sustainable rehabilitation of living conditions in affected territories, in a context in which each person can actively contribute to his own protection. Preparing or developing rehabilitation of living conditions in a territory affected by long-lasting radioactive contamination is a broader issue of governance as it must address all affected dimensions and articulate the actions of the various concerned actors at the local, regional and national level. To respond to this challenge, a specific research project was implemented by Mutadis, CEPN, NRPA and AgroParisTech from April 2004 to June 2009 in the framework of the EURANOS integrated programme. The overall objective of this project was "to develop a strategic and methodological framework that can inform or assist national authorities in Europe in establishing arrangements for the long-term management and the sustainable rehabilitation of living conditions in extensive areas that may be contaminated as a result of an accident or malevolent act involving radioactive material". The proposed framework describes a two-steps method allowing national and local authorities together with key stakeholders to establish arrangements and preparation strategies in the perspective of long-term management of a radiological event. It may also be used to develop rehabilitation strategies in countries affected by long-lasting radioactive contamination. This framework aims to set up favourable conditions for stakeholders (in particular local communities) to engage effectively and sustainably in the cooperative development of post-accident preparation or management strategies. The first step of the method aims to frame the issue and identify conditions for stakeholders to engage in rehabilitation preparedness or management strategies. The second step aims to develop a local-national cooperation platform gathering local and national, private and public actors to develop together preparation or management strategies.

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The effects of the Chernobyl nuclear accident on the psychology of the affected population have been much discussed. The psychological dimension has been advanced as a factor explaining the emergence, from 1990 onwards, of a post-accident crisis in the main CIS countries affected. This article presents the conclusions of a series of European studies, which focused on the consequences of the Chernobyl accident. These studies show that the psychological and social effects associated with the post-accident situation arise from the interdependency of a number of complex factors exerting a deleterious effect on the population. We shall first attempt to characterise the stress phenomena observed among the population affected by the accident. Secondly, we will be presenting an analysis of the various factors that have contributed to the emerging psychological and social features of population reaction to the accident and in post-accident phases, while not neglecting the effects of the pre-accident situation on the target population. Thirdly, we shall devote some initial consideration to the conditions that might be conducive to better management of postaccident stress. In conclusion, we shall emphasise the need to restore confidence among the population generally. * This paper is based on an invited lecture presented at the International Conference on Radio protection and Medicine held in Montpellier 28-30 June 1995.