Decision support for off-site emergency preparedness in Europe

The decision support system, RODOS, for off-site emergency management in the event of a future accident is being developed with support from the European Commission. The development is bring carried out within a large and fully integrated international project involving about forty institutes from sixteen countries in Eastern and Western Europe. RODOS has been designed to provide comprehensive (i.e. applicable at all distances, at all times and to all important countermeasures) decision support and to be applicable throughout Europe. The background to the development of RODOS is described in this paper together with its basic features, its current status and plans for its further development. Given the context of this Special Issue, particular attention is given to the contribution made by institutes in the former Soviet Union to the development of RODOS and plans for its implementation in these countries. The benefits of the system are increasingly being recognised following the completion of the pilot version in 1995. Of particular importance is its potential role as pan of a wider European network, the existence of which would promote a more effective and coherent response to any future nuclear accident that might affect Europe.