The radiation and nuclear safety authorities of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden have agreed a joint set of generic guidelines for protective measures in the event of a nuclear or radiological emergency, the authorities have said in a statement.
The new Nordic guidelines are based on existing Finnish guidelines for nuclear and radiological emergencies and have been further developed through “close cooperation” between the five countries, the statement said.
The guidelines take into account both domestic and foreign emergencies and cover both accidents and intentional acts, the statement said.
Severe nuclear or radiological emergencies can have a direct or indirect impact on many countries and joint criteria allow “consistent protective measures and advice to the public in such situations”. The protective measures might include sheltering indoors, taking stable iodine tablets, evacuation, protection of production and commodities, decontamination of inhabited areas, and management of waste that contains radioactive material.
The guidelines provide a common starting point for the practical application of protective measures. The common goal is to keep the exposure of the public as low as reasonably achievable and to recover standards of past living “to the extent it is reasonably possible”, the guidelines say.
The guidelines say that when planning for an emergency response, the overall aim is that the annual residual radiation dose should not exceed the reference level chosen by each Nordic country. That level should be between 20 and 100 millisieverts during the first year, including all radiation exposure pathways and protective measures.