POPULATION AWARENESS STUDY AND PREPAREDNESS FOR ACTION IN RADIATION ACCIDENT IN BULGARIA

Inquiry included issues covering the overall vision of radiative background monitoring systems, population disclosure, action by competent authorities and bodies and their interaction. Together with these radiation protection basics, the respondents also expressed their opinion on the main factors that could lead to a radiation accident and the way the radioactive particles, isotopes and rays are disseminated in terms of meteorological elements that influence them.The poll was conducted in February and March 2017 so that the information received is up to date. The resulting and aggregated information should not be considered as a constant because the situation changes dynamically, both in terms of the political situation in the region and the intentions of our neighbors regarding the sites that represent both the radiation risk and the meteorological elements that affect any radioactive contamination.The study was conducted in three groups of respondents. The first group consisted of radiation protection and nuclear physics specialists, who have a deeper understanding of the problems and their opinion has a greater weight. The circle of respondents was not large - 38 people responded to the survey.The second group of people included randomly selected individuals in different age groups and educational qualifications from all over the country randomly selected. In this category, the respondents answered 196 people of different age, gender and educationI also made a study among students in the first course at Vasil Levski National Academy of Medicine and the results were also processed and analyzed independently. It was attended by 158 trainees who have undergone initial training in nuclear, chemical and biological protection, and have some basic knowledge of nuclear accidents and their actions.After the survey was completed, the results obtained were processed by me and summarized in a tabular form attached to the report.On the basis of the results obtained and the summarized data, conclusions are drawn regarding the state of the actions in case of a radiation accident and recommendations for improvement of the public disclosure and the correct and timely actions of the responsible state bodies in order to protect the population and minimize the negative consequences for the living and non-living nature.