A System for Interpretation and Short-Range Forecast of Radiation Background in North-West Bulgaria (RINFOR)

After the Chernobyl accident and some major industrial accidents such as in Ceveso (Italy), Bopal (India) etc., the requirements for monitoring background measurement and pollution distribution forecasting substantially increased. Various radiation control measurement and computer systems were developed. A lot of pollutant transport models were developed in a number of countries, their output utilized for decision making in case of accidental release of chemical or radioactive material. Different projects have been launched out, like ATMES (Atmospheric Transport Model Evaluation Study), ETEX (European Tracer EXperiment) - 1st and 2nd stage, RTMOD (Real-Time MODeling project), ENSEMBLE (FP5 project) etc., aimed at studying the long-range transport of pollutants, on the one hand, and assessing the participating countries capabilities to response promptly in case of potential hazardous situation, on the other.