The IDEAS project

IDEA System
The expert system for internal dosimetry

2003 - 2023: Twenty years experience

THE IDEAS PROJECT

The IDEAS project commenced in October 2001 and was completed in June 2005. The following partner institutions were involved in the project

Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (FZK), Germany. Co-ordinator and Leader of Work Package 4.
Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK·CEN), Belgium. Leader of Work Package 1.
Electricite de France (EdF), France.
Italian National Agency for New Technology, Energy and the Environment (ENEA), Italy. Leader of Work Package 3.
Institute for Protection and Nuclear Safety (IPSN), France.
KFKI Atomic Energy Research Institute (AEKI), Hungary. Leader of Work Package 5.
Radiation Protection Institute (RPI), Ukraine. Leader of Work Package 2.
Health Protection Agency, Radiation Protection Division (HPA-RPD, formerly National Radiological Protection Board, NRPB), United Kingdom.

The consortium, consisting of representatives of the above eight institutions, came together through common interest in the problems to be addressed, complementary expertise, and contacts established through previous co-operation. Although the principal scientific personnel are all involved in internal dose assessment, they have a wide variety of backgrounds, being qualified in chemistry, radiobiology, engineering, medicine, pharmacology, and physics. Similarly, their involvement in internal dose assessment came from different directions. In most cases it mainly complements monitoring, both in vivo and bioassay measurements (EdF, ENEA, FZK, AEKI, SCK·CEN). However, in other cases it is mainly related to involvement in development of models used to relate intakes of radionuclides to organ doses and excretion (IPSN, NRPB), and/or to development of computer programs to implement such models and hence to calculate intakes and doses from monitoring data (RPI). The organisations involved have a range of functions: research institutes (ENEA, FZK, AEKI), national radiation protection authorities (IPSN, NRPB, RPI, SCK·CEN), and nuclear power production (EdF), and so bring different perspectives.

There was close co-operation between IDEAS and the ICRP Task Group on Internal Dosimetry (INDOS) and with the IAEA. There was also information exchange between IDEAS and other 5th Framework Programme EU Projects such as OMINEX (Design and Implementation of Monitoring Programmes for Internal Exposure) and IDEA (Internal Dosimetry – Enhancements in Application).