The European Partnership for Radiation Protection Research PIANOFORTE will contribute to improving the protection of the public, workers, patients and the environment from environmental, occupational and medical exposure to ionizing radiation. 

PIANOFORTE will address the need for integrated European research efforts on the risks associated with medical, industrial or environmental exposure to ionising radiation and emergency management for accidents involving radiation.  The project will support EU European Union (European Union) and national authorities by contributing to a pan-European scientific and technological basis for a robust system of radiation protection. 

Goals

The ambition of the PIANOFORTE partnership is to improve radiological protection of members of the public, patients, workers and the environment in all exposure scenarios and provide solutions and recommendations for optimised protection in accordance with European legislation. In particular, PIANOFORTE aims to contribute to 

• Improved patient radiation protection in relation to the use of ionising radiation in the medical field
• A better comprehension of variability of individual response to exposure to ionising radiation
• A better understanding of the mechanisms involved in chronic exposure to low doses of ionising radiation
• Improved anticipation capacities and resilience in nuclear or radiological crisis situations and post-accident management. 

There will be three calls for proposals addressing these themes open to the entire European radiation research community. 

Consortium

PIANOFORTE  brings together 58 partners representing 22 European Union countries as well as the United Kingdom and Norway and the six European research platforms in radiation protection (MELODI, EURADOS, EURAMED, NERIS, ALLIANCE and SHARE). The project is coordinated by the French Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN). 

Role of RIVM

RIVM has been mandated by the Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection to participate in the partnership. Dr Doctor (Doctor) Fieke Dekkers of RIVM is task leader for task 6.1. In this task, we will make the scientific output of PIANOFORTE available to audiences both within and outside the project. The aim of this task is to create a sustainable memory of PIANOFORTE’s scientific results that is available across member states (subtask 6.1.1) as well as to participants in the partnership (subtask 6.1.2).

Dr Fieke Dekkers and Dr Lars Roobol represent RIVM in the project. 

Funding

This partnership has received funding from the European Union’s EURATOM research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 101061037.