International Project on Assessment of Environmental Impact to be concluded in October 200323/10/2003
The international FASSET project (Framework for Assessment of Environmental Impact) will finish by the end of October 2003. The aim of the three-year project was to advance the radiation protection of the environment. From Finland, Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) participated in the project. In recent years people have more conscious than before that, except for people, also plants and animals need protection from the harmful effects of radiation. STUK participated in FASSET in the detection and identification of specially those pathways of radionuclides that cause the most exposure to organisms, and in the creation of the base for protection of animals. The aim was to establish an integrated system that would allow assessing the impact of radiation to organisms. ”In order to reach this objective, we also had to develop radiation dose calculation methods during the project”, explains Riitta Hänninen, the Head of Ecology and Foodstuffs Laboratory at STUK. The work started with FASSET will continue if the EU approves the financing application of the follow-up project. This would launch a three-year project, ERICA (Environmental Risk from Ionizing Contaminants: Assessment and Management), where the research will focus no longer creating but applying the assessment system and risk management. FASSET was participated, besides by Finland and STUK, also by research institutes from Sweden, Germany, the U.K., Spain and Norway. The Swedish Radiation Protection Authority (SSI) acted as the project coordinator. The homepage of FASSET provides, among others, the results of the project and a comprehensive database on effects of radiation for risk assessment. A summary of the project will be published later on the web pages. The environmental radiation protection was also discussed in an international IAEA meeting on 6 – 10 October 2003, in Sweden. Over 300 delegates from 53 countries participated the meeting, together with the international radiation protection organisations. Page updated 30/09/2004
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