CEPN is a non-profit organisation created in 1976 to establish a research and development centre in the fields of optimisation of radiological protection and comparison of health and environmental risks associated with energy systems.

The studies are undertaken by a group of a dozen of engineers and economists. The research programme is evaluated by a Scientific Council.

The association currently has three members: the French public electricity generating utility (EDF), the Institute of Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) and the French Alternatives Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).

CEPN is a a non-profit organisation created in 1976 to establish a research and development centre in the fields of optimisation of radiological protection and comparison of health and environmental risks associated with energy systems.

Recent publications

Experience with Stakeholders Engagement in Post-Accident Situations

LOCHARD J.

Oral Presentation at the International Workshop on Radiation and Thyroid Cancer, Tokyo, Japan, 21-23 February 2014

Abstract

The ETHOS project (1996-2001) developed in 5 villages in the Stolyn district of Belarus had shown that the direct engagement of the population in the daily management of the long-term contaminated areas by the Chernobyl accident was a guarantee of efficiency to improve the radiological situation and living conditions of the affected inhabitants. It also showed that this engagement should be based on the development and dissemination of a practical radiation protection culture among the general population of all ages based on three pillars:

  • The establishment of a radiation monitoring system that allows people to assess for themselves the radiological situation in the territory in which they live in order to regain control of this situation.
  • The development, through the educational system, of a strategy of intergenerational transmission of this practical radiation protection culture.
  • The implementation of a reinforced health surveillance and health care system responding to the precautionary principle in order to detect and treat diseases and health conditions that may develop in a context of chronic exposure to radioactivity and high disturbance of the living conditions induced by the presence of contamination.

Following this experience feedback, two projects were implemented in the Belarus districts of Bragin and Chechersk under the CORE International Programme between 2003 and 2009 with the specific objectives to develop the practical radiation protection culture and to improve health especially among children.

After recalling the general approach of involving stakeholders in the context of contaminated territories the paper presents the main lessons from the Bragin and Tcherchersk projects. In conclusion the conditions and means to implement an effective integrated and participatory approach of the medical surveillance of people living in long-term contaminated areas are recalled.

 

Download communication A1196

Exhibitions / Projects

Vous avez dit Radioprotection ?

Vous avez dit Radioprotection ?

Did you Say Radiation Protection? Stories of X-Rays, Radioactivity, etc …” is a traveling exhibition devoted to radiation protection, that is to say all the means to protect workers, the public and the environment from potentially harmful effects of X-rays and of radioactivity.

La robe et le nuage

Robe et Nuage

La robe et le nuage propose au lecteur une plongée dans le monde de la radioactivité qui n'a rien d'un pensum pour physiciens avertis. Bien au contraire, l'ouvrage, destiné au grand public, s'attache à retracer l'histoire des rayons X et de la radioactivité, ainsi que celle de son nécessaire pendant : la radioprotection. Rédigé par un spécialiste français du sujet et une journaliste scientifique, il aide à mieux comprendre la radioactivité, de La robe de Marie Curie au nuage de Tchernobyl.

ETHOS in Belarus

ETHOS en Biélorussie

Le projet européen ETHOS avait pour but d’améliorer durablement les conditions de vie des habitants des villages dont la vie quotidienne a été fortement affectée par la présence à long terme de contamination radioactive à la suite de l’accident de Tchernobyl. Il s’agissait d’une nouvelle démarche pluridisciplinaire basée sur une implication forte de la population dans l’évaluation et la gestion du risque radiologique en concertation avec les autorités locales, régionales et nationales et des experts biélorusses.