Course details

If you are interested in attending a course please email Cath Barnett

This course was fully subscribed email Cath Barnett if you wish to be kept informed of later courses.

Objectives

To ensure participants:

• are conversant with assessment objectives;
• have a basic understanding of radionuclide transfer, dosimetry and radiation effects;
• know how to use available tools;
• can interpret the results;
• understand the implications of how the tools are used.

Final programme

Directions

By road: Leave the M6 at junction 33, take the A6 north towards Lancaster. Continue for 1.75 miles, turn right at the second set of traffic lights into the University (after Galgate village). At the roundabout take the last exit. CEH is located on Library Avenue (1st left), however, if you want to park on campus you will need to use the pay & display area on Farrer Avenue (2nd left). Campus map

By rail: Lancaster railway station is on the main West Coast London- Scotland route, about three-and-a-half hours from London (see timetable). Take a taxi to the University from the station.

Link to Multimap

By air: There is a direct rail link from the Manchester International Airport (Terminal 2) to Lancaster Station (see timetable). Journey time is between one and a half and two hours. Alternatively if required we can arrange an airport taxi for you (email Aimee Walmsley).

A number of the cheaper airlines operate from Liverpool John Lennon Airport. However, there is no direct rail link to Lancaster.

Accommodation

If you have requested accommodation this will be reserved for you in the Lancaster House Hotel. Visitors to CEH are given a special rate of £80 per night (bed & breakfast). The Lancaster House Hotel is within 10 minutes walking distance of CEH.

If you are reserving your own accommodation and need assistance identifying to stay somewhere contact Aimee Walmsley

CEH Lancaster

Centre for Ecology & Hydrology,
Lancaster Environmnent Centre,
Library Ave.,
Bailrigg, Lancaster.
LA1 4AP

Tel: +44 (0)1524 595800
Fax: +44 (0)1524 61536

We suggest that course participants become familiar with the following documents prior to the course:

D-ERICA: An integrated approach to the assessment and management of environmental risks from ionising radiation. Description of purpose, methodology and application. Full text
ERICA Tool help Full text
PROTECT executive summary Full text
ICRP (International Commission on Radiological Protection). 2008. Environmental Protection: the concept and use of Reference Animals and Plants. ICRP Publication 108. Annals of the ICRP, 38, 4-6, 242pp.

Copplestone, D., Wood, M. D., Bielby, S., Jones. S.R., Vives, J., Beresford, N.A. 2003. Habitat regulations for Stage 3 assessments: radioactive substances authorisations. R&D Technical Report P3-101/SP1a. Environment Agency, Bristol.

USDoE (United States Department of Energy). 2002. A graded approach for evaluating radiation doses to aquatic and terrestrial biota. Voluntary consensus technical standard. DOE-STD-1153-2002. USDoE, Washington, D.C.

Ulanovsky A., Pröhl, G. 2006. A practical method for assessment of dose conversion coefficients for aquatic biota. Radiat. Environ. Biophys., 45, 203-214.

Howard, B.J., Beresford, N.A., Andersson, P., Brown, J.E., Copplestone, D., Beaugelin-Seiller, K., Garnier-Laplace, J., Howe, P., Oughton, D., Whitehouse, P. In Press. Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context - an overview of the PROTECT coordinated action. J. Radiological Prot.
Contact Brenda Howard for a copy if required.

Copplestone, D., Bielby, S., Jones, S.R., Patton, D., Daniel, P., Gize, I. 2001. Impact assessment of ionising radiation on wildlife. R&D publication 128. Environment Agency, Bristol.

Further suggested reading:

Beresford, N.A., Barnett, C.L., Howard, B.J., Scott, W.A., Brown, J.E., Copplestone D. 2008. Derivation of transfer parameters for use within the ERICA Tool and the default concentration ratios for terrestrial biota. J. Environ. Radioact., 99, 1393-1407.
Contact Nick Beresford for a copy if required.

Hosseini, A., Thørring H., Brown J.E., Saxén R., Ilus, E. 2008. Transfer of radionuclides in aquatic ecosystems- Default concentration ratios for aquatic biota in the Erica Tool. J. Environ. Radioact., 99, 1408-1429.

Beresford, N.A., Barnett, C.L., Brown, J., Cheng, J-J. Copplestone, D., Filistovic, V., Hosseini, A., Howard, B.J., Jones, S.R., Kamboj, S., Kryshev, A., Nedveckaite, T., Olyslaegers, G., Saxén, R., Sazykina, T., Vives i Batlle, J., Vives-Lynch, S., Yankovich, T. and Yu, C. 2008. Inter-comparison of models to estimate radionuclide activity concentrations in non-human biota. Radiat. Environ. Biophys., 47, 491-514.
Contact Nick Beresford for a copy if required.

Beresford, N.A., Broadley, M.R., Howard, B.J., Barnett C.L. &. White P.J. 2004. Estimating radionuclide transfer to wild species - data requirements and availability for terrestrial ecosystems. J. Rad. Prot., 24, A89-A103.
Contact Nick Beresford for a copy if required.

Garnier-Laplace, J., Della-Vedova, C., Andersson, P., Copplestone, D., Cailes, C., Beresford, N.A., Howard, B. J., Howe, P., Whitehouse, P. In press. A multi-criteria weight of evidence approach to derive ecological benchmarks for radioactive substances. J. Rad. Prot.

Garnier-Laplace J., Della-Vedova, C., Gilbin, R., Copplestone, D., Hingston, J., Ciffroy, P. 2006. First derivation of predicted-no-effect values for freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems exposed to radioactive substances. Environ. Sci. Technol., 40, 6498-6505.

Garnier-Laplace J., Copplestone, D., Gilbin, R., Alonzo, F., Ciffroy, P., Gilek, M., Agüero, A., Björk, M., Oughton, D.H., Jaworska, A., Larsson, C-M., Hingston, J.L. 2008. Issues and practices in the use of effects data from FREDERICA in the ERICA Integrated Approach. J. Environ. Radioact., 99, 1474-1483.

ICRP (International Commission on Radiation Protection). 2007. Recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection. Publication 103. Annals of the ICRP, 37, 2-3, 332pp.

RESRAD-BIOTA Help Full text

Beresford, N.A., Hosseini, A., Brown, J.E.,Cailes, C., Copplestone, D., Barnett, C.L., Beaugelin-Seiller, K. 2008. PROTECT Deliverable 4. Evaluation of approaches for protecting the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context. Comments received on Deliverable 4.

Beresford, N.A., Hosseini, A., Brown, J.E., Cailes, C., Beaugelin-Seiller, K., Barnett, C.L.,Copplestone. D. In Press. Assessment of risk to wildlife from ionising radiation: can screening tiers be used with a high level of confidence? J. Radiological Prot.
Contact Nick Beresford for a copy if required.

IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). 2001. Generic models for use in assessing the impact of discharges of radioactive substances to the environment. Safety Report Series No.19. Full text
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Presentations

Radiological protection of the environment - an introduction

Transfer - estimating radionuclide activity concentrations in wildlife

Radiation dosimimetry for animals and plants

Risk analysis and the development of radiological benchmarks

The ICRP’s current position and intentions towards radiological protection of the environment

What to look for when interpreting an assessment

Modelling the environmental dispersion of radionuclides

If you want to try the additional exercises from Practical 3 they can be downloaded from here

Seventeen participants attended the April 2010 course. At the end of the course we asked for oral feedback and also distributed a questionnaire. The results of the questionnaire can be found here (we have included all comments the complimentary, the constructive and even the one negative response). The subsequent course will be amended to take into account the constructive comments received.