EC Shamisen Project Publishes 28 Recommendations On Nuclear Accident Preparedness

8 Sep (NucNet): The European Commission-funded Shamisen project has published 28 recommendations to improve preparedness for and response to a nuclear accident. The recommendations follow an 18-month review of the response to previous accidents, particularly Chernobyl and Fukushima-Daiichi. New recommendations include how to improve professional training, establish disease registries and evacuation protocols. The recommendations say reliable information about an accident and associated risks should be given and radiation dose data collected. Following an accident, dialogue needs to be established between experts and affected communities. There needs to be support for populations that want to take their own dose measurements so they can decide what food to eat and when to return to their homes. Recommendations also include providing voluntary health screening and adequate counselling. The Shamisen project, coordinated by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, or ISGlobal, brought together 19 European and Japanese organisations, as well as US, Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian experts. It is funded by the EC’s Euratom programme. The project began in December 2015 with the objective of producing a set of recommendations that would contribute to health surveillance and related communication with affected populations after nuclear accidents. Existing recommendations, ISGlobal said, had a technical focus, with less attention paid to social, ethical and psychological issues. Details online: http://bit.ly/1RtfLM3