LOCHARD J. Stakeholder Involvement in the Rehabilitation of Living Conditions in the Territories affected by the Chernobyl Accident: The ETHOS Project in Belarus.
In: "Restoration of Environments with Radioactive Residues", Proceedings of an IAEA International Symposium, Arlington, VA, USA, 29 November-3 December 1999, IAEA Proceeding Series, IAEA-SM-359/5.2, 2000, pp. 639-653.


The management of the Chernobyl post-accident situation is a complex process comprising not only radiological protection but also psychological, social, economic, political and ethical dimensions. Involving in this process local communities who are directly concerned by the consequences of the accident is a strong level in improving their living conditions as well as restoring their confidence in experts and the authorities. This paper presents the experience of the involvement of a group of mothers from a village of the Republic of Belarus in activites ti improve radiological protection of their children. This experience took place in the framework of the European Commission with the objective of implemting an alternative approach to the rehabilitation strategies adopted so far in the contaminated territories of the CIS. The first part of the paper presents briefly the main features of the methodological and practical approach of the ETHOS project. The second part describes in more detail how the mothers voluntarily got involved in a working group set up in the framework of the project, the characterisation of the radiological situation they carried out, the concrete approach they developed to regain control of the situation, the way the health car system has been involved in the process and finally, the results they achieved in reducing the internal contamination of their children.