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Relationship to other international programs and SCOR Working groups

We outline briefly below, some of the agencies and groups we have already spoken to, who will have a role to play in our WG activities.  It is important to note that none of these organizations or groups have programs that would replace the need for RiO5, but they all can assist in those efforts in some way.

Center for Environmental Radioactivity (CRAD)

CERAD (https://www.nmbu.no/en/services/centers/cerad) is a Norwegian funded center of excellence hosted by the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and covering research and education on the sources, transfer, effects and risk assessment of radionuclides in the environment. In addition to fundamental research they are also engaged in stakeholder engagement and policy public issues. They are members of the Radioecology Alliance, and EC projects STAR, COMET, NERIS, DoReMi and OPERRA. They will contribute to training and education activities and links with EU radioecology and radiation protection.

Center for Marine and Environmental Radioactivity (CMER)

CMER (https://www.whoi.edu/cmer) was established in early 2013 at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution with the goals of increasing scientific and public understanding of the sources, fate, and consequences of radioactive substances in the environment, and training the next generation of marine nuclear radiation experts.  CMER will host this SCOR WG web site at WHOI, and assist in making links to public, student and academic audiences, building upon several efforts to pass on lessons learned from Fukushima, such as the Oceanus (https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/special-series/fukushima-and-the-ocean/) Japanese/English issue- Fukushima and the ocean- as well as a highly visited FAQ site (https://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=83397&tid=3622&cid=94989)  on Fukushima ocean impacts.   Also CMER can help organize and co-sponsor one of the WG meetings at WHOI.

European Nuclear Safety Training and Tutoring Institute (ENSTTI)

ENSTTI (http://www.enstti.eu/) was founded in 2011 and offers applied training course and tutoring sessions in nuclear safety, nuclear security and human and environmental radiation protection. On this latter point links could be developed with RiO5 in order to provide ENSTTI with baseline studies worldwide, to underline various processes that may enhance radionuclide transfer in the marine environment, even to contribute to ENSTTI training course on marine radioactivity and radioecology.

GEOTRACES

GEOTRACES (http://www.geotraces.org/) is an international and SCOR supported effort to map global distributions of selected trace elements and isotopes of key interest in ocean sciences.  Two WG Members (Dai and Masque) are former members of the international GEOTRACES SSC, and Associate Member Schlitzer, is leading database efforts that we hope to incorporate into our WG to produce added-value to the efforts underway as part of this program.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Environment Laboratories in Monaco

One of the IAEA’s mandates is to advise and assist Member States in building capacity for measurement and assessment of radionuclides in the marine environment and tracer applications to oceanographic, climate-related and pollution studies. Through its Marine Laboratories in Monaco (https://www.iaea.org/) the IAEA is the world’s major producer of reference materials of marine origin, and organizer of interlaboratory comparisons and proficiency tests. The IAEA maintains the MARiS database, containing over 120,000 records on radionuclides in seawater, marine sediment, and biota.  Also, the WG co-Chairs are in discussions regarding an International Symposium with the IAEA, which, pending funding and approval, may be in a position to collaborate through dedicated sessions at a larger conference on nuclear applications in the marine environment.

International Union of Radioecology (IUR)

The IUR (http://www.iur-uir.org/en) is an independent, non-political and non-profit scientific organization. Its first overarching role is to perpetuate a "think tank" capacity on radioecology issues through the maintenance of a network of scientists and professionals from around the world to foster communication between researchers from different fields and geographical regions through brain storming in task groups, the publication and circulation of technical papers, organization of conferences, training courses, and job alerts. At present there is no marine radioactivity task group, and this is something that RIO5 would be able to promote within IUR, and would be to the benefit of both organizations.

Other collaborations

In addition to these groups, we will build relationships through our Full and Associate Members with a wider range of organizations, programs and working groups.  Included among these are the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-UNESCO) (http://ioc-unesco.org/) and the European ALLIANCE (http://www.er-alliance.org/) network and associated COMET and STAR consortiums.  These groups will help to identify appropriate ways to ensure and facilitate the accomplishment of RiO5 objectives, including the training of new researchers in the field. European RiO5 WG Members will be proactive in raising funds for training thorough adequate platforms and instruments such as EU-funded Marie Curie Training Networks and/or COST-Actions (European Cooperation in Science and Technology), on which they already have experience.   We will also work with PICES WG 30 “Assessment of Marine Environmental Quality of Radiation around the North Pacific, who have an overlapping mission to look at radioactivity in the N. Pacific.  J. Smith is a member of this PICES WG and will be the link to this SCOR activity.  More info at https://www.pices.int/members/working_groups/wg30.aspx .