Challenging the current strategy of radiological protection of the environment: arguments for an ecosystem approach

Ecological effects of exposure to enhanced levels of ionizing radiation

“…Such impacts may not be manifested as the results of direct radiobiological effects on individual organisms, but rather the consequence of indirect effects, which result from differences in sensitivity of species and potentially lead to changes in habitat structure or alteration of trophic relationships. Although radioecologists discovered the potential importance of indirect effects long time ago (Brechignac and Doi, 2009;Woodwell, 1967), these effects have remained understudied and not thoroughly included in radioecological risk assessment. For example, keystone species that govern resource dynamics, trophic structure, and disturbance modes have the greatest potential to affect ecosystem processes.…”

Environment protection: The current challenge in radioecology

“…The need to view environmental problems in a more holistic manner, through the ecosystem concept, comes therefore from the recognition that human health is strongly bound to the health status of the environment itself. Toxic substances which man introduces in the environment elicit direct deleterious effects on humans, animals and plants, but also promote alterations of ecological processes which indirectly impact them, ultimately [3,4]. This leads to considering the relationship between environment and human protection no more through a linear view, but as a closed loop within which man promotes changes in the environment (harmful or not to non-human biota), such changes in turn being capable of promoting harmful feed-back impacts in humans.…”

“…The above-mentioned considerations lead to advocating the need to boost science and methods along an ecocentric approach [3,4,18], in a third phase ( fig. 5).…”

The international conference on radioecology and environmental radioactivity

“…Furthermore, Regulatory collaboration with Russia has been organised to ensure effective and safe operations during handling and removal of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive materials. The review by Brechignac and Doi (2009), discusses the advantages and limitations of current approaches for radiological protection of plants and animals by considering the broader context of environment protection as a whole and through reference to upcoming trends and developments. The authors promote the ecosystem concept as a means to access a unified goal of protection which they define as being the preservation of life sustainability through protection of ecosystem structure and functioning.…”