SYMPOSIUM OUTPUT – AGREED STATEMENTSIn an effort to reach better consensus and identify possible directions prone to resolve current divergence in interpretation of scientific results, IUR held a Consensus Symposium entitled “Ecological effects of radiation on populations and ecosystems”. The consensus effort produced by a group of scientists selected to represent various interpretations of observations and experiments, and using different inference strategies, has resulted in a set of agreed statements relevant to ecological effects of radiation on populations and ecosystems in order to improve protection of the environment against radiation. The “Miami Consensus Symposium” is a collective initiative prompted by IUR which gathered 30 scientists active in the field, on 16-19 November 2015, in Miami, Florida, USA. => The 7 Consensus statements of the ecological impact of radiation and the resulting conceptual implications for designing environmental protection. Download the Statement synthesis leaflet ----> => Publication in Journal of Environmental Radioactivity "Addressing ecological effects of radiation on populations and ecosystems to improve protection of the environment against radiation: Agreed statements from a Consensus Symposium". (JER - Volumes 158–159, July 2016, Pages 21–29) Access the full paper: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X16300832 |
INTRODUCING THE IUR CONSENSUS SYMPOSIUM
In 2001, the IUR arranged a Consensus Conference on Environment Radiological Protection, which resulted in broad agreement on the need to address the environmental impacts of ionizing radiation. For more than ten years, an increasing amount of work has been carried out on development of environmental radiation protection frameworks. Scientific research has increased our knowledge of the effects of ionising radiation on the environment, and a variety of laboratory and field studies have been published. However, the results from such studies are sometimes contradictory and there is disagreement about the implications for risk assessment.
By bringing together a wide group of scientists from different disciplines and research areas, the present symposium has provided an opportunity to revisit the 2001 consensus statement and evaluate the current research status. The symposium has discussed the scientific results from laboratory and field studies, identify areas of consensus and explore reasons for disagreements about the studies, different interpretation of the results, as well as their implications for environmental protection.
The Symposium group of scientists is currently drafting a set of agreed statements relevant to ecological effects of radiation on populations and ecosystems in order to improve protection of the environment against radiation. When ready, these agreed statements will be advertised and published
PROGRAM AND PROCEEDINGS
Tuesday, 17 November 2015
09:00-11:30 - Symposium introductory talks
Session Chair: Gene Rhode
IUR’s introduction to the Consensus Symposium
Francois Bréchignac - IRSN & IUR
UNSCEAR's assessment of doses and effects for non-human biota following the Fukushima nuclear accident
- Short address (on video)
Malcolm Crick - Secretary, United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), Vienna, Austria
- Review presentation
Per Strand – NRPA, Østerås, Norway
IAEA’s environmental impact assessment after Fukushima
Justin Brown - NRPA, Østerås, Norway
The 2001 previous consensus statement on environment protection (including ethical and philosophical views over goals of environment protection
Deborah Oughton - CERAD, NMBU, Oslo, Norway
Introduction to the process aims and objectives of the Symposium
Claire Mays - Institut Symlog, Paris, France - Process Advisor
Collection of ideas/issues by post-it notes
Claire Mays - Institut Symlog, Paris, France - Process Advisor
11:30-13:00 - Lunch
13:00-17:30 - Session 1. What is meant by environmental protection
Session Chair: Hirofumi Tsukada
What is “environment protection” and what does it mean in the radiation context?
Targets of protection and related endpoints (organisms, populations, ecosystems’ structure and functions)
Larry Kapustka - LK Consultancy, Alberta, Canada
Current status of environmental protection systems
Quantifying exposures to non-radioactive substances
Larry Barnthouse - LWB Environment Services, Inc., Hamilton, Ohio, USA
ICRP Reference Animals and Plants (RAPs) approach
Kathy Higley - University Oregon at Corvallis, USA
Quantifying exposure from radionuclides for environmental receptors
Justin Brown - NRPA, Oslo, Norway
14:20-14:40 - Coffee break
14:40-17:30 - Discussion breakout (Working groups / Report in plenum / Feedback commentary from the Process Advisor)
18:00-21:00 - Dinner reception
Wednesday, 18 November 2015
09:00-12:00 - Session 2. Field and laboratory studies
Session Chair: Ulrik Kautsky
Background Mutation Rates Across the Tree of Life
Michael Lynch - Indiana University, USA
Summary of field studies – effects on populations
Recent Findings from Fukushima
Timothy Mousseau - University South Carolina, USA
Some thoughts on statistical difficulties in detecting radiation effects in the natural environment
Jim Smith - University of Portsmouth, UK
10:00-10-30 - Coffee break
Linking field investigations and laboratory experiments
Fukushima and the pale grass blue butterfly
Joji Otaki - University Okinawa, Japan
Effects of radiation on populations and ecosystems, the Chernobyl and Kyshtym cases
Stanislav Geras’kin - RIARAE, Obninsk, Russia
Synthesis from the 2013 Workshop on "Uncertainties in field studies on chronic low level effects due to radiation" held at Lancaster (UK)
Steve Mihok - Russel, Ontario, Canada
11:30-13:00 - Lunch
13:00-15:40 - Discussion breakout (Working groups / Report in plenum / Feedback commentary from the Process Advisor)
15:40-16:20 - Coffee break
16:20-17:00 - Session 3. Ecosystems approach, systems ecology, indirect effects
Session Chair: Brit Salbu
Ecosystem effects of ionizing radiation - part 1 & part 2
Anders Moller - CNRS, Orsay, France
Reaction of water biocenoses to chronic radiation exposure aquatic flora and fauna
Evgeny Pryakhin - Urals Research Center for Radiation Medicine, Chelyabinsk, Russia
18:30-22:00 - Dinner
Thursday, 19 November 2015
08:40-09:40 - Session 3 (continued)- Ecosystems approach, systems ecology, indirect effects
Session Chair: Brit Salbu
Reference organism/biological effects versus ecosystem approach ecological effects
Alternative conceptual approaches for assessing ecological impact of radiation
François Bréchignac - IUR/IRSN, Cadarache, France
Biological effects versus ecological effects: an ecologist’s systems view
Clare Bradshaw - University of Stockholm, Sweden
Chronic low dose range implications
Non-Targeted Effects of Ionising Radiation - possible implications for Environmental Radiation Protection
Carmel Mothersill - University McMaster, Hamilton, Canada
09:40-12:40 - Discussion breakout (Working groups / Report in plenum / Feedback commentary from the Process Advisor)
12:40-14:30 - Lunch
14:00-17:00 - Session 4. Consensus building
Session moderator: Deborah Oughton
Discussion towards consensus development, drafting statement/conclusions
17:00 - Closing
