title: Off-site nuclear emergency management.
abstract: Urgent protective measures for the possibly affected population in the pre-release and release phase of a nuclear accident are decided upon and implemented by civil protection authorities on regional and local level. The responsible officers of these authorities are experienced in emergency response, but not in radiological questions. Their radiological advisors, on the other hand, mostly coming from surveillance agencies, often lack knowledge about conditions framing practical response measures. Moreover, although the scientific basis of protective measures is unquestionable, implementation policies are widely different in different countries and render co-ordination of response in border areas difficult. Finally, decreasing availability of funds sharpens the already existing problems due to diminishing interest of young scientists in radiation protection. Measures to improve upon the situation and prerequisite conditions will be discussed.
authors.affiliation: European Commission, DG Environment, B-1049 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Miska
mesh_terms: D002959:Civil Defense / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D003660:Decision Support Systems, Management / Q000458:organization & administration; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004630:Emergencies; D005060:Europe; D009688:Nuclear Reactors; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000379:methods*; D018788:Radioactive Hazard Release; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D017751:Safety Management / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration*