The IAEA has published proceedings which present the outcome of a conference on decommissioning and environmental remediation (D&ER) programmes, at which challenges, achievements and lessons learned in the implementation of such programmes during the past decade were shared and reviewed (here).
An interesting presentation by Tadashi INOUE, Research Advisor to Fukushima Prefecture on Remediation (here) Session 4b No 11) which, if I understand it correctly, argues that, for the decontamination around Fukushima:
- The lack of understanding of radiation in the general public was a barrier to the initial discussions and this helped sour the relationship between the people and the authorities.
- The variety of players acting and publishing independently in the early stages caused confusion and insecurity. Better co-ordination of monitoring and interpretation should be sought from an early stage.
- Target levels for decontamination and dose reduction should be set based on radiological, technical and sociological issues and within the ICRP 1mSv/yr – 20 mSv/yr band.
- The development of a decontamination strategy is a priority. The highest contaminated areas are not necessarily the place to start rather the emphasis should be on dose reduction.
- The acceptance of community and property owner is essential for the progress of remediation.
- Gaining the trust of the people is made difficult by the number of different opinions being expressed in public. In Japan they seem to have more trust in academics than in officials.
Some of this learning may not apply in the UK due to differences in the behaviour of society.
The balance of centralised coordination of the monitoring and interpretation against independent work by various bodies will be hard to manage to optimise trust, understanding and joint decision making.
Finding a process where the trust of the residents can be developed through dialogue will take time and will be made difficult by the actions of some parties multiplied by the impact of broadcast abd social media. The level of anger expressed around the Grenfell Tower fire in London over shortcomings in the care offered to the survivors in the hours and weeks after the event and the media involvement in the Charlie Gard court case show how difficult the situation can get and how distracting the views of people outside as well as those inside the issue can be.
(All figures from Tadashi INOUE presentation to IAEA (Madrid, May 2016))