Validation of Environmental Assessment Models and Assessment of Effectiveness of Protective Measures Using Data from Chernobyl 131I Releases

Abstract

Since the late 1980s, the International Atomic Energy Agency has sponsored programmes in the area of environmental modelling and assessment. The recent EMRAS (Environmental Modelling for Radiation Safety) programme was started in 2003 and ended in 2007. This paper firstly describes the historical background of international exercises aimed at the testing and validation of models to assess the transfer of radionuclides in the environment and to predict the potential routes and levels of human exposure to the radionuclides. Chernobyl fallout data collected in various regions of Europe have provided a unique opportunity to test the reliability of environmental assessment models for contamination of terrestrial and aquatic environments. The paper also describes the activities undertaken by the 131I Working Group in the EMRAS programme, which were focused primarily on evaluating the predictive capability of environmental transfer and dosimetry models and on applying models to evaluating the effectiveness of countermeasures.