Evaluating alternative "countermeasures" against food contamination resulting from nuclear accidents

Nuclear accidents such as Chernobyl have far reaching impacts on ecological systems. Likewise they have major implications for agricultural systems, s ince crops and livestock can become contaminated and rendered unfit for hum an consumption. A range of "countermeasures" exists, however, which can mit igate these impacts and allow food products to be saved. The CESER project has been concerned with the development of a system to assess the environme ntal side-effects of such countermeasures. Estimates of the economic costs of these environmental side-effects have been made for a number of case stu dy sites in the UK, using environmental models and an original contingent v aluation study. Estimates of farm level (private) costs are also included.