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The NEA Expert Group on Recovery Management (EGRM) has finalised a report meant to provide guidance to member countries on improving preparedness for post nuclear accident recovery.

The report titled “Building a Framework for Post Nuclear Accident Recovery Preparedness: National-Level Guidance” will be presented and discussed by a panel of experts at a web event on 23 May 2022. More information and the registration link for the web launch event are available here.

The framework proposed by the EGRM in the report follows a cyclical approach and can be divided into four main phases (Figure 1):

  • the development of a framework for recovery;
  • the definition of recovery objectives;
  • the implementation of a number of strategies to achieve and assess the recovery objectives; and
  • the evaluation of the success of these strategies and the improvement of the overall framework through feedback from exercises or lessons learnt from real situations.

The recovery objectives that the EGRM identified are to ensure the health and well-being of the affected people, to support the economy, and to protect the environment during the recovery process. The framework further addresses a series of topical and cross-cutting strategies to achieve and assess these recovery objectives, including stakeholder engagement and communications, remediation and decontamination, and waste management.

Recovery preparedness cycle

An in-person workshop will be organised by the EGRM on 27-28 October 2022 at the headquarters of the French Institute of Radiation Protection and Nuclear safety (IRSN) near Paris. The workshop will address the technical aspects of preparedness for post nuclear accident recovery as outlined in the EGRM report and will serve as a platform for the exchange of experience and best practices between countries. The workshop will also explore the conclusions from the report in preparation for the 6th NEA International Nuclear Emergency Exercise (INEX-6), which will focus on long-term recovery. More details on the workshop will be made available in due course on the NEA website.

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