Nuclear and radiological preparedness: the achievements of the European Research Project PREPARE

The PREPARE project aimed closing gaps identified in nuclear and radiological preparedness in Europe following the first evaluation of the Fukushima disaster. With 46 partners from Europe and Japan, it collected the key players in the area of emergency management and rehabilitation preparedness. Starting from February 2013, the project ended in January 2016. Among others, the project reviewed existing operational procedures for long-lasting releases, cross-border problems in radiation monitoring and food safety and further developed missing functionalities in decision support systems ranging from improved source term estimation and dispersion modelling to the inclusion of hydrological pathways for European water bodies. In addition, a so-called Analytical Platform has been developed to explore the scientific and operational means to improve information collection, information exchange and the evaluation of such types of disasters. The tools developed within the project will be partly integrated into the decision support systems ARGOS and JRODOS.