EURADOS Report 2026-03 published: "16th EURADOS School: Contribution of dosimetry in the field of nuclear emergency preparedness and radiological accident management"

EURADOS Report 2026-03: "16th EURADOS School: Contribution of dosimetry in the field of nuclear emergency preparedness and radiological accident management"

Isabel Bravo, Wolfgang Raskob, Matt Simpson, Maria Antonia López, Elizabeth A. Ainsbury, Arturo Vargas, Christelle Huet, Luiz Bertelli, Jean-Francois Bottollier-Depois, Johan Camps

Abstract: Ionising radiation is of huge benefit to society, including in medicine and industry. However, there remains a small but very real risk of radiation accidents or malicious events which may lead to small or very large numbers of individuals being exposed to unplanned doses, either patients, workers, or members of the public.
Ionising radiation dosimetry in its various forms, including environmental, computational, individual monitoring, internal and external dose assessment, is a crucial part of any radiation emergency response, not least following a large scale civil nuclear accident. In such scenarios, direct monitoring of doses to individuals and the environment as well as prediction of the pathways for exposure which relies on detailed calculations using a variety of models and approaches, directly support decision making in terms of incident resolution (who should try and fix the problem and how), as well as protective actions for potentially exposed members of the public and the environment. Dosimetry is also key to the recovery phase, including the initial and longer term clean up as well as the long-term consequences for exposed workers, members of the public, non-human biota and the environment.
The EURADOS School 2023 seeked to establish the basics of preparedness for nuclear emergency situations, before introducing the audience to the key considerations of dosimetric monitoring and modelling to support real time decision making and prediction of evolution of the accident, individual monitoring and external and internal dosimetry for individuals and the environment. The contribution of dosimetry to communication to the public and stakeholders, which is essential for both the acute and clean up phases of the incident, was also considered, as were the next steps in terms of the longer term. Case studies on real or potential incidents were presented to put the presented theory into practical context.