NERIS: The European Platform on Preparedness for Nuclear and Radiological Emergency Response and Recovery

SCHNEIDER T., LAFAGE S. et al.

Oral Presentation at the Fourth Regional European IRPA Congress ‘Radiation Protection Culture-A Global Challenge’, Geneva, Switzerland, 23-27 June 2014.

 

Abstract

The NERIS platform was established in June 2010 to encourage European, national, regional and local authorities, technical support organisation, operators, professional organisations, research institutes, universities, and non-governmental organisations to co-operate and to facilitate access expertise and technology in maintaining competence in the field of nuclear emergency management and recovery for the benefit of European countries and citizens.

49 organisations are members of the NERIS Platform from 24 countries and 20 members are supporting organisations. The NERIS Association has been registered in August 2012 as a legal European Association under the French Law. It is operated by a management board of 10 members and the NERIS R&D Committee elaborates its strategic orientation. A secretariat is in charge of the technical administration (e.g. website - www.eu-neris.net -, publication of ‘Newsletters’).

3 Working Groups have been set up:

  • on « the practical implementation of the ICRP recommendations »;
  • on « processes and tools for emergency and rehabilitation preparedness at community level »;
  • on “Contaminated Goods”

Users group on decision support systems are also working under the umbrella of the NERIS Platform: the RODOS Users Group (RUG) and the “Handbook user group”.

The NERIS Platform also supports the organisation of training courses on “Usage of the new products for supporting the management team” organised by VUJE, "Preparedness and Response for Nuclear or Radiological Emergencies" organised by SCK·CEN and “Late Phase Nuclear Accident Preparedness and Management” organised by CEPN.

 The NERIS Platform is linked to research projects, managed by KIT:

  • NERIS TP “Towards a self sustaining European Technology Platform on Preparedness for Nuclear and Radiological Emergency Response and Recovery”.
  • PREPARE project on innovative integrative tools and platforms to be prepared for radiological emergencies and post-accident response in Europe.

To set up a common reflection, cooperations have been established with European and international organisations: HERCA, ALLIANCE, CRPPH, ICRP and AIEA. To share issues on lessons learnt from the Fukushima accident, cooperation have been initiated with IGES (Institute for Global Environment Strategies) and with the Fukushima University.

The NERIS Platform is also involved in the steering committee of the EC Project OPERRA, aiming at structuring the research in the field of radiation protection at the horizon 2020.

This paper will present the key components of the NERIS Platform and its objectives.

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