No abstract available

[en] This book is an essay in dealing with the risks and consequences of disruptive events in some emblematical enterprises of our time. The striking relevance of the variability factor in emergency management makes it difficult to encompass the entire difficulty in a fully generic, streamlined discourse. That is why, while trying its best to extract generic pieces of wisdom from the varied experience reported in the exploding literature around that deals with the subject, this text would rather focus on a few case histories at hand, that may more eloquently, if implicitly, illustrate authors' stand. The three projects that served the purpose - ETH-NUMERISK, MONITOT.HSK, and ETH-CHEMRISK - are components of a research project in the Swiss academic and educational environment. figs., tabs., refs,

No abstract available

[en] APUD is a computed code designed for rough, expeditious assessments of the dispersal of airborne radioactivity discharged, either normally or accidentally, from nuclear facilities. In particular codes such as APUD may aptly complement the tool-kit required in the adoption of informed contingency plans in case of abnormal nuclear occurences that are accompanied by atmospheric releases of radioactivity. Apart from such extreme circumstances, APUD may profitable be used a a simulation/drill facility. Given adequate inputs, APUD may also work on any sort of industrial atmospheric emissions.(author)

[en] ETH-CHEMRISK is designed in accordance with the principles and methods of emergency planning and preparedness as applied to the case of industrial (chemical) accidents. The outline of this decision support system design follows from both the features that nuclear and chemical accident consequence analysis share, and those that make the two different from each other. It uses and integrates concepts such as: data base, geographical information system, risk assessment, graphic driven software environment

[en] The ETH-RISKMONITOR is a DSS designed to assist real case on-line remote monitoring of nuclear power plants for abnormal event categorizing based on plant condition, and its evolvement, issuing of recommended alert grades, prompt determination of endangered/exposed sectors in a territory and on dose and health effects mapping. It is an application on linking plant on-line monitoring to rule-based assessment and emergency planning for nuclear accidents

No abstract available

[en] A few, but dramatized abnormal occurrences have haunted the nuclear debate on the issue of plant safety. While quality assurance and quality control mainly provide for failure-proof components and sub-assemblies, it is the man-designed and man-operated system of a nuclear power plant that makes a fool-proof achievement of safety particularly elusive. Sound ways and means of monitoring and of reacting properly to the behaviour of the highly complex, non-linear system of a nuclear power plant seems to be one of the keys to improving nuclear safety, thus giving rise to more confidence in the viability of nuclear power and less reluctance to its expansion. The paper hints at the possibility of working out integrative, automatic and low cost means of responding properly to the perturbation of a complex system. It bears on the design, licensing and, in particular, the operation of a nuclear power plant. The basis of the suggested solution stays within the existing mathematics of structural and dynamic stability, as well as within the possibilities of present-day communications services. The outcome might be a new approach to safety assurance and safety control complementary to present philosophies, and, as a practical result, a new monitoring device in the control room of a nuclear power plant. (author)

[en] The paper describes an approach taken within the EURISOL-DS project (European Isotope Separation Online Radioactive Ion Beam Facility) to a number of safety and radioprotection issues raised by the advent of radioactive ion beam facilities in the cutting edge area of particle accelerators. The ensuing solution emerged from a collaborative effort of the investigating team-in-charge, affiliated with the Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering in Bucharest, with expert colleagues at the Physics Institute in Vilnius, and at CERN, within the participation in the EURISOL-DS project, Sub-Task B: Radiation, Activation, Shielding and Doses of the Safety and Radioprotection, Task 5. The work was primarily geared towards the identification of knowledge and data in line with validated, accepted and nationally/internationally recommended methods and models of radiological assessment applied within the nuclear power fuel cycle, deemed to be suitable for assessing health and environmental impact of accelerator operations as well. As a result, a computer software platform code-named ''EURISOL Desktop Assistant Toolkit'' was developed. The software is, inter alia, capable to assess radiation doses from pure or isotopically mixed open or shielded point sources; emergency response-relevant doses; critical group doses via complex pathways, including the air, the water, and the food chain and derived release limits for the normal, routine operations of nuclear facilities. Dedicated data libraries and GIS (Geographic Information System) facilities assist the input/output operations. (orig.)

[en] The paper points at several aspects relevant in the decision support-assisted (DSS) management of radiological emergencies. Emphasis is placed on the compelling need of having ready-for-use alternative and mutually-supportive assessment resources, and on the sensitivity of the civil defense to certain species and formats of the information delivered by DSS. (authors)