[ RadSafe ] HPA - UK Recovery Handbook for Radiation Incidents

[Marcel Schouwenburg]

News from the UK.
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Health Protection Agency publishes UK Recovery Handbook for
Radiation Incidents

http://www.hpa.org.uk/hpa/news/articles/press_releases/2005/050526_recovery_handbook.htm

http://www.hpa.org.uk/radiation/publications/hpa_rpd_reports/2005/hpa_rpd_002.htm

The Health Protection Agency today published the UK's first recovery 
handbook for radiation incidents. The handbook has been developed to 
guide UK decision-makers through a menu of recovery options
following a release of radioactive material into the environment.  It will
help users identify the key issues and evaluate a range of  timely,
effective actions and countermeasures so that they choose  the options
most suited to their particular circumstances.
The handbook has two main purposes:
·	to help those organisations that would be part of the
Recovery Working Group (RWG) to plan their response to an incident 
involving the release of radioactive material into the environment;  ·	to
aid the RWG in making decisions on recovery options in
the first few months after such an incident.
There are two major considerations following an accident or incident 
involving radioactive contamination: protection of health and the  safety
of foodstuffs. The spread of contamination creates a complex  situation,
affecting health, agriculture, economics and involving  most sectors of
the population. A coherent framework for the
restoration of safe living conditions in contaminated areas is
therefore essential.
The main focus of the handbook is to give guidance on dealing with  an
accidental release from a nuclear site or weapons' transport
accident. However, much of the guidance may also be relevant to
other types of radiation incident.
Welcoming the publication of the handbook, Professor Pat Troop,
Chief Executive of the Health Protection Agency said: "This is the  first
comprehensive, authoritative handbook of this type to be
available to the UK's recovery teams. I am confident that it will  prove
an invaluable aid to planning and that it will quickly become  a vital
part of the recovery toolkit."
Notes to Editors
The preparation of this Handbook was jointly funded by the Radiation 
Protection Division of the Health Protection Agency (formerly NRPB), 
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Department of 
Environment (Northern Ireland), Environment Agency, Food Standards 
Agency, Scottish Executive and

1.	Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
2.	The RWG is a multi-agency group that consists of
representatives of both local and central Government bodies that
would be set up after an emergency as soon as it became clear that 
offsite contamination was going to occur.
3.	The Handbook is divided into colour coded sections, each
representing a different topic area as follows - the order of these 
sections is arbitrary and does not indicate which topic should be 
addressed first:
Yellow - Recovery and Radiation Protection
Green - Agricultural food production
Orange - Domestic food production and the gathering of free foods
Purple - Inhabited areas
Blue - Drinking water
4.	UK Recovery Handbook for Radiation Incidents: 2005. HPA-RPD-
002. (ISBN 0-85951-559-1).
The Recovery Handbook is approximately 500 pages long and is
available in PDF, hard copy and interactive (HTML on a CD) formats. 
Available at www.hpa.org.uk/radiation/, printed copy, £50 +10%
postage and packing, interactive (HTML) CD, £11, from CRCE
Information Office, (Tel: 01235 822742/822603), email:
information at hpa-rp.org.uk.
Press Enquiries only: Centre for Radiation, Chemicals and
Environmental Hazards Press Office, Chilton (Tel: 01235
822744/822745)
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Marcel Schouwenburg
RadSafe moderator & listowner