Recent advances in animal radioecology and mitigation of animal product contamination after accidents

Recent research has led to significant progress in our understanding of factors controlling transfer of
radionuclides to animals and in the development of countermeasures for reducing contamination of animal
products. Improved understanding has led to the development of more mechanistically based models for some
radionuclides, which take account of stable or analogue interactions. The potential advantages of the
development of generic approaches, dispensing with divisions into species, or even radionuclide, are discussed
and constitute a significant area for future development. The advances have improved our knowledge of the
effectiveness of a range of countermeasures and allowed potentially inappropriate measures to be identified. For
radiocaesium in particular, effective and feasible countermeasures have been identified and successfully
implemented over the years following the Chernobyl accident. However, countermeasure effectiveness is not the
only consideration. In addition, cost and criteria such as availability, technical feasibility, acceptability and
environmental and social side effects need to be taken into account. Evaluation of these factors has shown that
some previously recommended countermeasures are unlikely to be feasible in Western Europe