8. Decision Analysis of Protective Actions in Forest Areas

A nuclear accident itself and the introduction of protective action entail risks to the people affected, monetary costs and social disruption. As far as the society is concerned the values which enter decisions on protective actions are multidimensional. People have strong feelings and beliefs about these values, some of which are not numerically quantifiable and do not exist in monetary form. These problems, often including mutually conflicting objectives and uncertainties and are difficult to control simultaneously, cannot be undertaken without careful consideration of the essential consequences of decisions. Decision analysis can be applied in planning intervention, this helps in rendering explicit and apparent all the factors involved and evaluating their relative importance. In this study recovery operations to clean up a forest environment in the event of a hypothetical radiation accident in a nuclear power plant were analyzed and discussed to determine what would be appropriate intervention levels in protecting the public, workers and the environment. The values considered essential in the decision were included in the analysis and their importance on decision making process is discussed.