The aim of CERAD is to reduce the overall uncertainties in impact and risk assessments and thus increase the protection of man and the environment from harmful effects of ionising radiation, alone and in combination with other stressors. Key issues include how uncertainty is addressed in predictive modelling and risk assessment, and its implications for risk management, decision-making, and risk communication. By interfacing models, linking sources and associated releases via ecosystems to impact and risks, and implementing research from RA1-RA4, the uncertainties associated with model predictions should be improved. Secondly, there is an increasing focus on the effects and risk of low radiation doses at the community or ecosystem level, moving beyond single species exposure and impact assessment. Field studies of the impacts of radionuclides have attracted much attention and controversy in radioecology in recent years, not least due to purported effects at doses much lower than those seen in the laboratory. Finally, there is an increasing recognition that radiation protection should address socioeconomic impacts.
RA4 is divided into three related umbrella projects:
- UMB4A - Laboratory and field studies in an ecosystem approach
- UMB4B - Potential Nuclear Events – assessing impact and risk from specific sources
- UMB4C - Societal impacts associated with socioeconomics, risk communication, risk perception and stakeholder dialogue.
