Objectives of the ALLIANCE

The European Radioecology Alliance - Working group on NORM issues

Nordic NORM 2015 – Helsinki – 15.-16.9.2015

www.er-alliance.org

Maarit Muikku

on behalf of the Alliance maarit.muikku@stuk.fi

• Founded in 2009

• Mission - Integrate research and infrastructure to

maintain and enhance radioecological competences and addresses scientific and educational challenges in

assessing the impact of radioactive

substances on humans and environment

• 8 founding members, 21 partners from 14 countries

The European Radioecology Alliance Association – the

“ALLIANCE”

Objectives of the ALLIANCE

• Coordinate and promote research in Radioecology

• Act as a Research Platform

• Definition of Priorities

• Definition of Research Programmes and Resources

• Assessment of results obtained

• Promotion and Communication

• Make its information public

• Act as partner in future EU funding mechanisms:

Horizon 2020, CONCERT project (http://www.melodi-

Interaction

• The ALLIANCE is one of the 4 radiological protection research platforms existing in Europe (NERIS, MELODI, EURADOS). As such the ALLIANCE has fruitful and regular interactions with those associations

• NERIS (Emergency preparedness and recovery)

• MELODI (Low dose research)

• EURADOS (European radiation dosimetry group)

• Active cooperation with other associations

• IUR (MoU), EUTERP, IRPA

• Contacts and interactions with many others: ICRP, IAEA, UNSCEAR, NCORE,... DOS (Person’s dosimetry)

The strategic research agenda (SRA)

 The Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) was initially developed by the STAR Network of Excellence for the European Radioecology Alliance.

The SRA sets out to:

• Define a long-term vision of the needs for, and implementation of radioecological research

• Be useful to science and society, be shared with stakeholders and researchers, and be realistic

• A document open for debate with relevant stakeholders

SRA – Challenges

• Challenge 1: Predict human and wildlife exposure in a robust way by quantifying key processes that influence radionuclide transfers and exposure

• Challenge 2: Determine ecological consequences under realistic exposure conditions

• Challenge 3: Improve human and environmental protection by integrating radioecology

Download from www.radioecology-exchange.org

Roadmap for Radioecology: Translating a Vision into Reality

• A first phase roadmap produced by the COMET project and the ALLIANCE

• Seven topical working groups (WG) have been launched aiming to build a 5-year roadmap and implementation plan for each of the topics and to initiate a limited number of research activities that have been identified as priority in the radioecology SRA (see www.radioecology-exchange.org & SRA)

• Atmospheric transfer processes

Enhance understanding of transfer processes of radioactive aerosols to soil and biota, study contribution of fog and snow events in transfer models, investigate secondary emission

mechanisms

• Human food chain

Improve quality and completeness of radiological parameters, incorporate the “human-environment” into models, including the region-specific parameterisation, optimise model

complexity

Working groups

Working groups

• Marine radioecology

Improve knowledge on transfer processes for marine organisms and on marine transfers in non-equilibrium situation, develop tools to model transport, transfers and radiation exposure for man and

wildlife, provide dynamic models incorporating spatial and temporal processes

• Forest radioecology

Reduce the uncertainties in assessments of short- and long-term impacts of radioactive contamination in forested areas through model sensitivity analysis and parameterization of key processes controlling the transfer of radionuclides

• Transgenerational effects of chronic exposure to ionising radiation

Understand contribution of genetic and epigenetic changes to

propagation of effects through generations, determine the molecular basis of resistance/vulnerability gained through generations

• Intra- & inter-species differences in radiosensitivity

Elucidate mechanisms explaining inter- and intra-species sensitivity, identify specific molecular or cellular fingerprints as biomarkers of radiosensitivity, implement powerful meta-analysis among species and exposure conditions

 Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM)

Working groups

Lead by Susanne Sachs and Thuro Arnold (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf - HZDR)

Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials

(NORM)

WG NORM – Main objectives

• Improve risk assessment for existing and future NORM sites.

• Extend transport modelling of radionuclides into the uncontaminated environments by including

chemical/geochemical and biological/microbiological mobilization/immobilization processes (identify and mathematically describe processes that significantly

contribute to the environmental transfer of radionuclides resulting in exposure of humans and wildlife).

WG NORM – Main objectives

• Develop a mechanistic understanding of chemical and biological processes on a molecular scale and translate this knowledge into robust sub-models, thus paving the way for new strategies for a sustainable rehabilitation and remediation of NORM sites.

• Create a research platform for NORM interested scientists for chairing and exchanging knowledge on radionuclide behaviour in nature.

WG NORM

(i) improved transport models for radionuclides with reduced model uncertainties

(ii) more reliable and less conservative assessments of the radionuclide transfer, which represent

(iii) the basis for new innovative, cost-effective and sustainable remediation measures of NORM sites and

(iv) licensing procedures of NORM industries that provide adequate protection of humans and environment without unnecessary restrictions.

WG NORM

Starting point:

In a number of European countries there are NORM sites of interest, resulting from mining activities (e.g., U, Zn, Cu mining, Upper Silesian Observatory Site) and phosphate industry (e.g., phosphogypsum stock pile, phosphate production plant, pine

forest on a sludge heap from the phosphate industry), which may cause health hazards for human and the environment. Sites are under investigation on a national level.

No financial funding for WG NORM, each partner currently

contributes with own data, skills, knowledge, and financing from other national and international sources (projects, grants, funds).

WG NORM

Main working tasks of WG NORM

WG NORM – Tasks and selected topics of interest

Task 1: Data generation/Monitoring (including sampling methods and strategies )

• Compilation of hypotheses and research questions that guide data generation and monitoring

• Radionuclide fluxes in NORM sites (e.g., U, Th, Ra, Rn, ²¹⁰Pb,

210Po)

• Physicochemical characterization of soils (TF and K_d values and their correlation with the physicochemical parameters of the NORM site)

WG NORM – Tasks and selected topics of interest

Task 2: Process understanding and identification of key processes

• Identification and parameterization of radionuclide transfer in plants and microorganisms (including radionuclide speciation)

• Molecular understanding of the radionuclide interactions with simple inorganic and organic model compounds, proteins, cells, bacteria and plants considering their organs, cell types, and sub- cellular compartments

• Soil-to-plant transfer of radionuclides

• Influence of co-contaminants

• Radionuclide transfer considering redox processes and reactive transport processes

• Use of geochemical speciation databases and codes to support the interpretation of results

Task 3: Transport modelling

Development of modules for transfer and exposure models that incorporate physical, chemical, and

biological interactions

Task 4: Dose calculations/predictions

Calculation and modelling of doses related to external and/or internal exposure depending on the

radionuclides and scenarios

WG NORM – Tasks and selected topics of interest

WG NORM – Tasks and selected topics of interest

Task 5: Sustainable remediation strategies

• Engineering of affine and specific binding sites in proteins and in simple model compounds such as peptides

• Water decontamination using selected hyper resistant and/or hyper accumulating microorganisms (bacteria, microalgae) at micro-pilot scale and high-affinity

chemicals, peptide derivatives or proteins

Communication plan

Continuing professional development

• PhD students Workshops

• NORM session within the ALLIANCE workshop in 2016 (tbc)

• Presentation of NORM topics at the radiation protection week Sept 2016 in Oxford, UK and at the ICRER conference 2017 in Berlin, Germany

Knowledge dissemination

• Publications (by individual institutes or WG NORM), PhD

Thank you!

The ALLIANCE: www.er-alliance.org NORM group leaders:

Susanne Sachs (s.sachs@hzdr.de)

Thuro Arnold (t.arnold@hzdr.de)