International Knowledge and Information Centre (IKIC)

Project overview

Since September 2018, the Department of Safety and Radiation Protection (S) has been one of ten partners in one of the 60 Interreg projects in Europe. Interreg is a funding programme of the European Union that aims to eliminate differences between regions and to promote cross-border cooperation with regard to the economic and social fabric.

The Interreg project "International Knowledge and Information Center for Public Safety (IKIC)" aims to achieve this goal by promoting cooperation in the border region between Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, the Euregio Meuse-Rhine (Euregion Meuse Rhine - EMR). The focus of the IKIC initiative is to strengthen public safety by increasing the resilience of the population and the so-called non-police emergency response (fire departments, rescue services, etc.) to crises and disasters in the following areas:

• Acute medical care
• Firefighting
• Technical assistance for chemical, biological, and radiological/nuclear incidents
• Prevention of infectious diseases

Project goals

In order to increase and strengthen the knowledge about these risks in the Euregio, the IKIC partners develop training and information offers for different target groups in the population. In addition to the employees of the emergency and rescue services and the fire brigades, a second focus is on sensitive population groups such as children and the elderly, but also interested citizens, pupils, teachers and students. Through practice-oriented on-site training and through virtual training offers, risk awareness about disasters is to be raised and knowledge about emergency protection and preparedness is to be improved. In order to be able to offer scientifically and didactically sophisticated training measures, fire brigades, universities, research institutions and emergency services have pooled their competences. The following institutions are partners in the IKIC project:

Within Forschungszentrum Jülich, two departments are involved in the IKIC project:

• The Department of Safety and Radiation Protection (S) with the plant fire brigade, the radiation protection emergency services and a radiation biology research group: https://www.fz-juelich.de/gs/DE/UeberUns/Organisation/S-F/S-F_node.html
• The JuLab student lab: https://www.fz-juelich.de/julab/DE/Home/home_node.html

Contacts:

Project leader on the part of the research centre: Burkhard Heuel-Fabianek, Head of Safety and Radiation Protection, b.heuel-fabianek@fz-juelich.de

Project manager: Dr. Sabine Schmitz, Senior Scientist, sa.schmitz@fz-juelich.de

IKIC: https://www.ikic-publicsafety.eu/interreg.html

Funding:

The IKIC project is funded by Interreg and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Interreg is part of the European Union's cohesion policy and is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

https://www.interregemr.eu/home-de

https://www.wirtschaft.nrw/ministerium

Financing Partners

The Department of Safety and Radiation Protection (GB S) contributes its competence in radiation protection to the Interreg project "International Knowledge and Information Center for Public Safety (IKIC)" and has developed various information and training offers:

1. "Humans and Radioactivity - From Natural Radiation to Emergency Protection"
   An information event on the topic was held on October 11, 2019 at the CT² (Center for Teaching and Training), on the Melaten Campus of the RWTH in Aachen. At this event, interested members of the public were able to obtain information through a poster exhibition and presentations by experts on the following topics:

• Natural & Civilisational Radiation Exposure (Dr. Ralf Kriehuber, Forschungszentrum Jülich, GB S, Head of the Radiation Biology Group)
• Emergency situations and their classification (Burkhard Heuel-Fabianek, Head of GB S)
• Crisis management in North Rhine-Westphalia and in the StädteRegion Aachen (Marlies Cremer, StädteRegion Aachen, Head of the Office for Rescue and Civil Protection)

Interested citizens could ask the speakers questions afterwards and discuss with them. In order to make this information offer available to the interested public even after the ending of the project, the presentations of these and additionally other speakers from the Netherlands (Marian Ramakers, Managing Director EMRIC - Euregio Meuse-Rhine Incident and Crisis Management; Cindy Gielkens, Health Advisor for Hazardous Substances at the GGD Zuid Limburg) and Belgium (Didier Sorgeloos, Police Liaison Officer to the Provincial Governor of Liège - Emergency Planning Department) were recorded in the respective national language.

The link to the Youtube video on "Emergency Planning and Disaster Management in Belgium" in French by Didier Sorgeloos can be found here:

https://view.genial.ly/61c19742e544f50df0da2cde

You can watch the videos of the other speakers on the YouTube page of the Research Center. Go to the YouTube page here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCer2BlxxQ2wJdOQFr2XqCVAHqQ2Jbr2e

You can find the speakers' slides of the YouTube videos in German, Dutch and French here:

2.Training offer for students who are interested in radiation biology and want to receive further training in the field of radiation protection. For this purpose, a transnational student course on "Basics in Radiation Protection and Radiation Biology" was offered in English. Students receive extensive information on the basics of radiation biology and radiation protection. Practically relevant methods that are frequently used in radiation biology are presented.

3.Practical training offers for firefighters from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany on the emergency response to radiological/nuclear accidents.

Within the framework of the IKIC project, practical training courses have been developed and validated by the plant fire department for firefighters from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany who wish to receive further training in the field of emergency response to radiological/nuclear accidents. These two training offers are a supplement to the mandatory further training of fire fighters and make use of the special training facilities at Forschungszentrum Jülich. One of the courses deals with "Measuring instruments and measuring tactics", another with "Personal decontamination".

3.1 Measuring instruments and measuring tactics
This training module is divided into three units and begins with a short theory block in which the measurement technology of the measuring devices used is explained. This is followed by a workshop in which the participants learn how to use the measuring devices in practice. Finally, there is an operational exercise on the FZJ campus, where the firefighters can simulate a realistic operation using the measuring devices. As such operational exercises are conducted differently in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, the first two units of the training are conducted analogously for all countries, while the operational exercise is country-specific. The day ends with a feedback session where the participants can evaluate the training activity.

3.2 Personal decontamination
This module trains firefighters in the organization of medical assistance in radiological emergencies and in the handling of contaminated persons. The contents include the detection of contamination, the handling of contaminated persons and the measures for decontaminating contaminated persons. The modules measuring instruments and measuring tactics and personal decontamination are offered beyond the duration of the IKIC project for fire brigades in the EMR and are carried out on request. Your contact person and the person responsible for coordinating the training offered by the plant fire brigade of the research centre is Mrs Susanne Loup.

Contacts:

Mrs Susanne Loup and Mr. Marcel Karbach

Email: s.loup@fz-juelich.de or m.karbach@fz-juelich.de

Tel: +49 2461/61-5992

As part of the IKIC project, the JuLab school laboratory offers two courses dealing with radioactivity and radiation. They are similar in content, but are aimed at different target groups (students, teachers) due to the different depth of the topics covered and practical parts. The aim is to reduce existing uncertainties on this subject through targeted information and education as well as practical training and further education. The objective is to strengthen the objective understanding of the topics of radiation and radioactivity in the target groups and to place it on a uniform, transnational basis.

Both training courses take place in the laboratories of the JuLab school laboratory on the campus of the Research Centre and are supplemented by topic-specific excursions, e.g. to the participating research institutes and special information on the topic of dismantling the former research reactors.

Both modules will be offered to school classes and teachers at the EMR beyond the duration of the project and will be carried out on site on request. If you are interested, please first contact the student lab via the following e-mail address: schuelerlabor@fz-juelich.de

1.Radioactivity & Radiation - It's all a question of dose
One-day experimentation day for students (from grade 9).

https://www.fz-juelich.de/julab/DE/Leistungen/Angebote_fuer_Schulklassen/Experimentiertage/Texte/Radioaktivit%C3%A4t.html?nn=856970

2.Radioactivity & Radiation - It's all a question of dose
Two-day practice-oriented on-site training for STEM teachers at comprehensive and grammar schools in the EMR.

https://buchungjulab.fz-juelich.de/de/themen/thema/radioaktivitt-und-strahlenschutz-fortbildung.htm

Detailed content information about the course offerings can be found below the links provided above.