ABSTRACT
Management of nuclear or radiological events leading to contamination in the environment is a complex societal problem, as proven by a number of events ranging from nuclear power plant accidents to loss of radioactive sources. In addition to the radiological consequences and the technical feasibility, an effective response strategy must also take into account public acceptability, communication needs, ethical and environmental aspects, the spatial variation of contamination and the socio-demographic background of the affected people. This has been highlighted in the international projects in the 1990’s (French et al. 1992, Allen et al. 1996) and reinforced in recent European projects-e.g. STRATEGY, for site restoration (Howard et al. 2005) and FARMING, for extending the stakeholders’ involvement in the management of contaminated food production systems (Nisbet et al. 2005)—as well as in reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA 2006, p. 86).
