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The approach adopted in this project being based on an interdisciplinary approach, the Project Team relies on a Consortium under the leadership of the Nuclear Protection Evaluation Centre - CEPN. The Consortium is composed of the following organisations:
- CEPN (Nuclear Protection Evaluation Centre - France), which is particularly experienced in radiation protection, and economics. CEPN co-ordinates the whole project, as well as WP2 (Case Studies on Risk Governance) and WP5 (Project Management Committee Meetings).
CEPN is a non profit research organisation, created in 1976 by Electricité de France and the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) for developing research in the fields of optimisation of radiation protection and the comparison of health and environmental risks associated with energy systems. Since 1993, CEPN members are: Electricité de France, the French Atomic Energy Commission – Nuclear Protection and Safety Institute (CEA-IPSN) and COGEMA. The annual budget of CEPN is about 12 millions FF, 30 % of the resources coming from the association members and 70 % from contracts with the nuclear industry and with the national and international organisations. The group is made up of about 15 researchers with expertise in radiological exposure models, environmental transfer models, economic and statistical analyses and decisions-aiding techniques.
The CEPN research programme is structured according to the following main topics:
- Methodology for the assessment and the management of the radiological risk,
- Radiological protection of workers in the nuclear, industrial and medical fields,
- Health and environmental impacts of nuclear installations,
- Economic and social aspects of radiological waste management,
- Involvement of stakeholders in the decentralised radiological risk management.
CEPN is largely involved in European contracts (EC DG Research and DG Environment) and international organisations (OECD/NEA, IAEA). Its activities and results are regularly evaluated by a scientific council involving CEA, IPSN, EDF, COGEMA as well as representatives from the European Commission and professors from universities. CEPN is used to working with industrial partners and public organisations. Since the beginning of the 80's, CEPN has acted as co-ordinator of European projects in radiation protection (optimisation of radiation protection and post-accident management).
On risk governance, CEPN is involved in the TRUSTNET European Concerted Action since 1997. It was also responsible for a comparative study on assessment and management of ionising radiation and carcinogenic risks, performed together with IPSN and MUTADIS on behalf of a Working Group on Risk Management of OECD/NEA. Recently, CEPN has conducted an in depth analysis of an innovative experiment in pluralist expertise around the nuclear installations of the Nord Cotentin in France. It was also involved in the European ETHOS Project on the rehabilitation of living conditions in contaminated territories and implementation of decentralised radiological risk management.
- MUTADIS Research Group (France), which expertise is mainly in the fields of sociology and social risk management and which is co-ordinator of TRUSTNET. MUTADIS co-ordinates the WP1 (Common Interdisciplinary Analysis Framework) and WP3 (Common Interdisciplinary Assessment).
MUTADIS is a research and consultant group specialised in the social management of risk and in the area of risk governance that operates for public and private organisations, particularly in the nuclear field.
As regards Risk Governance, MUTADIS has been co-ordinating since 1997 the TRUSTNET European Concerted action on risk governance involving some 80 European regulators, experts and stakeholders such as NGOs and representatives from the public and from the industry. In 1998-99 MUTADIS actively participated together with IRSN (former IPSN) and CEPN in a comparative study on risk assessment and management of carcinogenic risk within a working group from OECD/NEA. Since 2000, MUTADIS, together with CEPN and IRSN, is involved in a reflection on concertative approaches around industrial installations.
MUTADIS is also involved in the current reflection on the future of nuclear power from a social and political point of view at the European level. MUTADIS has participated in several studies on the management of high level radioactive waste. Since 2000 MUTADIS also coordinates COWAM, a European-wide network of local communities, experts, regulators and implementers which aims at improving the governance of radioactive waste management.
In the area of sustainable development of forestry, MUTADIS was involved in 1998 as Mediator in a structured dialogue process involving 25 key French stakeholders together with state representatives in the preparation of a national framework for the sustainable management of forest in France. As regard Environmental management, MUTADIS is providing advice to several industrial operators such as paper industry.
Since 1991 MUTADIS is involved in studies related to the evaluation of the consequences of a nuclear accident within the framework of the European Research Programmes. From 1996 to 2001, MUTADIS has coordinated the European ETHOS project aiming at the rehabilitation of the living conditions in the territories contaminated from Chernobyl in the CIS.
- IRSN (Nuclear Protection and Safety Institute - France), which has in particular experience in all aspects of the radiological risks associated with nuclear power plants, and is involved in research activities dealing with regulatory, sociological, economic and psychological aspects of risk assessment and management.
The Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (French acronym IRSN) is the foremost expert in France in the field of nuclear and radiological risks, and the European leader in nuclear risk research. It conducts expert appraisal and research activities for various French or foreign organizations in both the public and private sectors. These activities concern the safety of nuclear facilities and the transportation of radioactive and fissile materials, the protection of human health and the environment against ionizing radiation, the protection and control of nuclear materials and products liable to be used in weapons manufacturing, crisis management organization and training, and the physical protection of facilities and transportation.
The Institute also provides information to the public and takes part in many international research and expert appraisal activities.
The Institute, a public industrial and commercial establishment (EPIC in French), is under the joint supervision of the Ministers for Defense, Environment, Industry, Research, and Health. It brings together more than 1,500 experts and researchers from a large number of specialist fields ranging from life sciences to nuclear physics. Although the Institute operates mainly in France, it also has offices in Moscow and Kiev as part of the Riskaudit group created with GRS, its German counterpart.
The Institute is clearly an actor of the French risk governance system. It provides advice to the safety and protection authorities which need to base their own decisions on the best available scientific and technical knowledge. It contributes to the development of knowledge in the various fields of risk assessment and risk management. IRSN is also involved in research activities dealing with analysis of the regulatory, sociological, economic, psychological components of risk assessment and management. Since 2000, IRSN, together with CEPN and MUTADIS, is involved in a reflection on the concertative approach around industrial installations, notably the nuclear installations in the Nord Cotentin Region.
- HSL/HSE (Health and Safety Laboratory/Health and Safety Executive - UK), sound understanding of the social, political, regulatory and economic context in which risks from hazardous activities are governed, developed from its longstanding expertise in the field of occupational health and safety. Due to its experiences in risk governance systems for occupational health and safety, HSL applies it in the area of environmental protection, an area outside its usual role, and so is well placed to transfer ideas between the two fields and within the rest of HSE (the UK’s occupational health and safety regulator).
The Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) is an agency of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) which is the UK statutory body for enforcing workplace health and safety law. HSL is a leading UK industrial health and safety research facility and supports HSE's mission to ensure that risks to people’s health and safety from work activities are properly controlled. This involves operational support through incident investigations, studies of work situations and the analysis and resolution of safety problems. It employs over 350 people, more than half being scientists and technical specialists. The core capabilities range across risk assessment, engineering control, occupational and environmental health, work environment, ergonomics and work psychology, fire, explosions and process safety. HSL has a long history of research into the technological and scientific aspects of workplace risk, including hazard identification, accident causation, safety culture, risk assessment, risk perception and human factors. From its longstanding expertise in the field of occupational health and safety HSE/HSL has developed a sound understanding of the social, political, regulatory and economic context in which risks from hazardous activities are governed.
The team can also call upon a network of skilled specialist staff throughout HSE/HSL who can contribute to the 'chemical' and 'radiation' aspects of the proposed programme, be it regulatory knowledge, scientific research or practical workplace experience.
HSL/HSE have extensive experience of working with international partners world-wide, for example WHO, UN and ISO. Within Europe, they are involved in collaborative research, Standards making and regulatory negotiation.
- University of Westminster (UoW - UK), and more particularly the School of Law, which carries out highly rated research, especially from a socio-legal perspective, in a range of field, including risk governance issues. UoW is the leader of WP 4 dedicated to the elaboration of the synthesis of the various case studies and the recommendations for risk governance systems.
The University of Westminster traces its origins to The Polytechnic, founded in London in 1838. The latter was rededicated as the University in 1992. Through its educational philosophy and range of courses, its multicultural community and extensive partnerships with employers, the University of Westminster aims to educate for professional life.
Within the University, the School of Law is recognised for the quality of its research, receiving a 5 rating in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise, the only new university law school to do so. This emphasis on leading edge research is an integral part of the School’s aim to provide high quality teaching and supervision to its undergraduate and postgraduate students. A number of staff work in areas related to risk issues at both a conceptual and a practical level and are active in funded research, publication and consultancy.
- KTH-Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (Sweden), and more particularly the Philosophy Department, which is specialised in the philosophy of risk and in interdisciplinary risk studies.
KTH is Sweden's largest technological university. Its philosophy unit specialised in the philosophy of risk and in interdisciplinary risk studies with a strong philosophical component. It co-operates with natural and behavioural scientists in several projects. This unit is currently working on issues such as uncertainty characterisation, the operationalization of the precautionary principle, type II errors in toxicological risk assessment, the use of exposure limits in toxicology, and the choice of optimal test strategies for toxicological testing, the ethics of radiation protection, the fact-value distinction in science and risk assessment, the role of insurance in risk prevention, the concept of safety and the meaning of consistency in risk management. Several research projects on ethical aspects of risk are conducted in the unit, including projects focusing on applications to traffic safety and to occupational health and safety.
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