Multi-criteria decision support and stakeholder involvement in emergency management

Decision-making in emergency management involves many parties with different views, responsibilities and interests for which a consensus must be found. Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) can help to ensure transparency in such decision processes. This paper describes the application of MCDA in nuclear emergency and remediation management and the experiences gained from conducting moderated decision-making workshops. The workshops were based on a hypothetical nuclear accident scenario generated by the real-time online decision support system, RODOS, for nuclear emergency management. Focusing on the evaluation of long-term countermeasures, the multi-criteria decision support software, Web-HIPRE was used to guide and support the participating decision-makers, stakeholders and experts during the decision-making process in the moderated discussion. This software has been integrated into the RODOS system. In addition to identifying the factors driving decision-making in the context of nuclear emergency management, issues for further development of methodology and decision support tools were determined.