Major Radiation Accidents and International Emergency Exercises: Lessons Learned in Providing Information to the Public in Crisis Situations

Sergey Fesenko and David Byron Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture International Experts' Meeting on Enhancing Transparency ., Vienna June 2012.

FAO mandate
Achieving food security for all is at the heart of FAO's efforts - to make sure people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. FAO is a key player in response to emergencies affecting food, agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
Its focus is on food production and agriculture. Assisting in preventing disaster-related emergencies, providing early warnings of food emergencies and helping in rehabilitation of food production systems. The main forms of FAO's intervention include needs assessments, provision of agricultural inputs and technical assistance for the planning and management of sustainable recovery and rehabilitation of rural productions systems.

FAO activities related to preparedness and response

Intra- and inter-agency cooperation and collaboration (standards, meetings, emergency exercises) Dissemination of knowledge and increased public awareness (website, eLearning) Coordinated research projects
Development of agricultural countermeasures and remediation strategies, including development of the communication mechanisms to be used in case of emergency Technical capacity development of Member States Guidelines and international standards (including Codex)

Technical assistance and policy advice

The International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN)

The rapid globalization of food production and trade has increased the potential likelihood of international incidents involving contaminated food.
INFOSAN is a basic FAO/WHO tool for food safety assessments and information exchange in area of food safety.

INFOSAN is a joint initiative between WHO and the FAO and includes of 177 member states. The network aims to:
Promote the rapid exchange of information during food safety related events Share information on important food safety related issues of global interest Promote partnership and collaboration between countries Help countries strengthen their capacity to manage food safety risks

INFOSAN ACTIONS FOLLOWING the FUKUSHIMA ACCIDENT in MARCH 2011

Daily assessment of data on food contamination from Japan Briefings the MS and mass-media on food safety issues Recommendation and advice to the MS Recommendations on monitoring in agriculture in areas affected by the Fukushima accident Recommendation on remedial actions to Japan authorities DB on food contamination to support dose and effects assessments at the International level

Some lessons learned from severe radiation accidents: Kyshtym, Chernobyl and Fukushima
Timely and transparent informing about impact of radiological or nuclear emergencies on agriculture is of crucial importance in mitigation of consequences of severe radiation accidents Different communication strategies should be used to deliver information to different groups of the public and the stakeholders. Such groups should be defined well before the emergency. Basic strategies how to communicated to each of such group should be identified. Responsibilities between major stockholders responsible for communication to the public should be defined, well structured and harmonised well prior the accident in the emergency response plans. Communication strategies to facilitate national, regional and international coordination and the dissemination of information (e.g., EMPRES, INFOSAN), including the agriculture, fisheries and forestry communities as well as the public should established and be a part of the national and local emergency response plans. Fact sheets for public and private audiences related to the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors should prepared prior the accident and used further in the emergency depending on the situation.

Timely and transparent informing about impact on food and agriculture

Chernobyl 1986 (Chernobyl Forum), IAEA, 2006) The information on high levels of 131I in food and on necessary countermeasures was confined to managers and local authorities and was not timely distributed to the rural population. This led to a high iodine uptake through the milk food chain within a few days after the accident and, as a consequence, to high doses (0.2 - >10 Gy) to the thyroid for a relatively large number of people lived in affected areas Fukushima 2011 (WHO, 2012) All the population was receiving timely information on 131I in food and thyroid was lower than could be in the absence of the information. The actions were implemented timely. According to the WHO report (May, 2012) in the most affected area of Fukushima prefecture the estimated thyroid doses are within the dose band of 10100 mSv, with the exception of one example location where estimated thyroid doses to adults are within a dose band of 110 mSv and another example location where the estimated thyroid doses to infants are within a dose band of 100200 mSv.

Lessons learned from International Exercises: ConvEx-3

The purpose of the ConvEx-3 exercises is to test and evaluate the exchange of information and coordination of the international assistance during a major nuclear emergency. The ConvEx-3 exercises provide an opportunity to identify shortcomings in the national and/or international emergency response systems that might hamper the response aimed at minimizing the consequences of a nuclear accident.

Conclusions
The internet and the web based systems for national and international information exchange proved to be very useful however a reliable common/international communication/information sharing system with interfaces to national web based systems would be extremely beneficial The issue of coordinating media information on a national and especially on the international level remains unsatisfactory solved problem.

Tools for dissemination of information (Chernobyl Portal)

Lessons learned from non-nuclear emergencies

An increasingly important role for national food control systems is the delivery of information and advice to stakeholders across the farm-to-table continuum, both within the country and in other countries. These activities include the following:
the provision of balanced factual information to consumers and the media; the supply of information packages and educational programmes for key officials and labourers in the food industry; the provision of reference literature to extension workers in the agricultural and health sectors; sharing relevant food safety information with other countries, especially within the region.

Thank you for your attention!