This document presents general principles for preparedness to conduct individual contamination screening, triage, monitoring and assessing radiation doses received by people exposed during and/or in the aftermath of a nuclear or major radiological incident. The document mainly focuses on the early response phase, which requires rapid actions to be undertaken for achieving the goals in support of, and according to, national or international guidelines on emergency response.

It addresses general requirements for

—     members of the public, this includes adults, vulnerable populations (such as children and pregnant women) and people with special needs (such as the elderly and disabled), and

—     emergency workers.

This document provides general procedures for screening, triage and monitoring these two categories of people. It deals with individual monitoring for potential external contamination, internal and external exposures and dose assessment. It also gives principles for organizing and managing a population screening centre and for registering and reporting the results of individual monitoring. This document is applicable to most exposure situations following a nuclear or major radiological incident affecting a large number of people, including:

—     significant release of radioactive materials (e.g. from a facility or nuclear power plant, during transportation);

—     radiological dispersal device (RDD);

—     improvised nuclear device (IND);

—     nuclear weapon.

Radiological incidents for which there is no release of radioactive material in the environment but only external exposures (e.g. linked to a Radiation Exposure Device (RED)) are outside the scope of this document[1]. However, some information given by this document may be of interest for this type of event.

The aim of the document is to ensure that the appropriate parties are prepared in advance. This document advises how to obtain and collect data quickly and accurately in order to inform decision makers. It does not specify the parties or individuals who are responsible for undertaking the actions.

This document is intended to give guidance to those in charge of monitoring and assessing doses received by populations in emergency exposure situations involving a large number of people potentially subject to internal/external contamination (and subsequent radiation doses). It can also serve as guidance to regulatory bodies.