A case study was conducted in the village of Komarin in Belarus at the edge of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, with the aim of evaluating the spatial and temporal variability in external and internal post-accidental radiation exposure. A database containing the radioactive measurements of foodstuffs made in Komarin over a 1990–2016 period makes it possible to estimate retrospectively the internal exposure. External exposure was prospectively studied through a citizen science approach involving a group of high school students and used two radioactive monitoring approaches, the D-shuttle© dosimeter and the OpenRadiation® system. Results showed that contamination level in food products varied over 2 to 4 orders of magnitude, underlining the usefulness of continuous monitoring of locally produced foodstuffs even more than 30 years after the Chernobyl accident. The study of external exposures showed that the current dose rates were similar to those usually observed elsewhere in the world, without any notable variations. More detailed analysis of these results will be conducted in future studies. This paper focuses on the methods used for the acquisition of data about both external exposure and foodstuff contamination and how it resulted in the strong involvement of high school students which in turn triggered a renewed interest in the practical radiological protection culture within the population of the village.

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The European ALARA Network regularly organises workshops on topical issues in radiation protection. In light of the Fukushima accident, the most recent workshop questioned the application of the ALARA principle in emergency exposure situations. This memorandum presents the conclusions and recommendations of this workshop. One of the outcomes is that the process of optimisation in emergency exposure situations should be flexible enough to be able to modify or refine decisions over the course of an accident. In the urgent phase, decisions must be made in a very time-constrained environment, based on scarce, uncertain and sometimes unreliable information. In this phase, optimisation and protection strategies are therefore developed and applied on the basis of conservative assumptions or 'reasonably foreseeable worst-case scenario' which could lead to an overestimation of the consequences. In the intermediate phase, knowledge of the situation improves, and more time is available to make the decision. This is reflected by adopting a less conservative approach, and transitioning to a more appropriate optimisation adapted as effectively as possible to the various exposure situations. When the situation is eventually stabilized (transition phase), there is time to shape the measures taken previously to reflect local conditions in the affected territories. In every phase, consideration should be given to the stakeholders, so that their needs and requirements can be incorporated as effectively as possible.

-Recommendations and requirements for the management of foodstuffs including drinking water and feedstuffs (but not other commodities) contaminated after a nuclear accident or a radiological event have been developed by international bodies such as Codex Alimentarius Commission or European Union as well as by individual countries. However, the experience from severe nuclear accidents (Chernobyl, Fukushima) and less serious radiological events, shows that the implementation of such systems (based on criteria expressed in activity concentration) seems to be not fully suitable to prevent several difficulties such as, for instance, stigmatization and even rejection attitudes from consumers or retailers (anticipating the fears of consumers). To further investigate the possible strategies and stakeholder expectations to deal with this sensitive issue, a study has been launched within the European research project PREPARE-WP3. The overall objective of this work, coordinated is to contribute to the development of strategies, guidance and tools for the management of the contaminated products, taking into account the views of producers, processing and retail industries and consumers. For this purpose, 10 stakeholder panels from different European countries have been set up. In addition, feedback experience from the management of contaminated goods following the Fukushima accident has been provided by Japanese stakeholders. This paper highlights the key topics tackled by the different European stakeholders' panels.

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