Quintessa

Presenting International Collaborations at ICRER 2017

Laura Limer and Russell Walke participated in the 4th International Conference on Radioecology and Environmental Radioactivity (ICRER), which was held 3-8 September 2017 in Berlin.

The conference involved 270 participants and was organised by IRSN and the NRPA. A wide range of issues concerning radioecology and environmental radioactivity were discussed, with sessions on: risk communication; post-accident environmental recovery; speciation and transfer; NORM; effects of ionising radiation and other stressors on non-human biota; monitoring; and nuclear legacy.

Quintessa presented two oral papers on projects run via the international collaborative BIOPROTA forum. Russell Walke spoke about a BIOPROTA project to review and enhance the IAEA BIOMASS methodology, to reflect improved understanding and experience gained in the 16 years since the methodology was developed. This work is being run in collaboration with Working Group 6 of the IAEA MODARIA II project, which has consistent objectives. Laura Limer spoke about a BIOPROTA project to apply different models to three observational data sets of C-14 behaviour in the biosphere. The datasets covered atmospheric deposition to pasture, sub-surface gaseous source terms to soil and historical groundwater contamination.

The extended abstracts for these presentations are available for download (BIOMASS methodology, C-14) and more information is available from the conference website.

Modelled concentrations in pasture following atmospheric deposition from the La Hague Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plant, France.

Update Aug 2019: Removed link to the ICRER 2017 conference website (http://icrer2017.com/) since it is no longer active.