Dr Brenda Howard MBERadioecologist
Research interestsMy particular interests include radionuclide transfer to animals in agricultural and semi-natural ecosystems, the development of countermeasures, spatial analysis of radioecological sensitivity and radionuclide transfer to wildlife. I have studied the transfer of radionuclides to agricultural and wild animals for more than 20 years, with a focus on the major contaminants from the Chernobyl accident, I, Cs and Sr. I co-authored the major international source on transfer parameters for animals (TRS 364) in 1994 and am currently involved in updating this handbook, co-authoring the domestic animals section and helping to edit the entire document. As part of this work, with Russian collaborators I am currently synthesizing the large amount of work on large animals which has only been published in the Russian language. I am currently co-ordinating an EU project, called PROTECT (Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context) which is aiming to evaluate the different approaches to protection of the environment from ionising radiation and comparing these with the approaches used for non-radioactive contaminants. This will provide a scientific justification on which to propose numerical targets or standards for protection of the environment from ionising radiation. Brief CVI have a PhD in physiological heavy metal detoxification mechanisms from which I published my first three papers. Since then, I have produced 110 refereed papers, focusing on factors affecting radionuclide behaviour in the terrestrial environment. In addition to many contract reports and conference proceedings, I have published 17 books, including special issues of Journals and contributions to various IAEA documents, notably the Transfer Parameter handbook (TRS 364) and the environment section of Chernobyl forum report published on the 20th anniversary of the accident. I have co-ordinated eight EU framework projects. I am currently co-chair of the biota working group of the IAEA EMRAS programme (Environmental Modelling for Radiation Safety). I was awarded an MBE for my radioecological work in 2002. |
Recent/selected publicationsRefereed papers In Press Howard, B. J. and Larsson, C-M. The ERICA Integrated Approach and its contribution to Protection of the Environment from Ionising Radiation. J. Environ. Radioact. Beresford, N.A., Balonov, M., Beaugelin-Seiller, K., Brown, J., Copplestone, D., Hingston, J.L., Horyna, J., Hosseini, A., Howard, B.J., Kamboj, S., Nedveckaite, T., Olyslaegers, G., Sazykina, T., Vives i Batlle, J., Yankovich, T.L., Yu. C. An international comparison of models and approaches for the estimation of the radiological exposure of non-human biota. Applied Radiation and Isotopes. N.A. Beresford, S. Gaschak, C.L. Barnett, B.J. Howard, I. Chizhevsky, G. Strømann, D.H. Oughton, S.M. Wright, A. Maksimenko, D. Copplestone. Estimating the exposure of small mammals at three sites within the Chernobyl exclusion zone – a test application of the ERICA-Tool. J. Environ. Radioact. Beresford, N.A., Barnett, C.L., Howard, B.J., Scott, W.A., Brown, J., Copplestone. D. Derivation of transfer parameters for use within the ERICA-Tool and the default concentration ratios for terrestrial biota. J. Environ. Radioact. Zinger, I., Copplestone, D., Howard, B.J. Decision-making in environmental radiation protection: using the ERICA Integrated Approach. J. Environ. Radioact. Wood M.D., Marshall, W.A., Beresford, N.A., Jones, S.R., Howard, B.J., Copplestone,D.C. & Leah, R.T. Application of the ERICA Integrated Approach to the Drigg coastal sand dunes. J. Environ. Radioact. 2008 2007 Howard, B.J., Beresford, N.A., Mayes, R.W., Lamb, C.S., Barnett, C.L. 2007. The transfer of different forms of 35S to goat milk. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 98, 177-190. Fesenko, S.V., Alexakhin, R.M., Balonov, M.I., Bogdevich, I.M, Howard, B.J., Kashparov,V.A., Sanzharova, N.I., Panov, A.V., Voigt, G., Zhuchenka,Yu. 2007. An extended critical review of 20 years of countermeasures used in agriculture after the Chernobyl accident. Science of the Total Environment, 383, 1-24. Balonov, M.I., Gernady, B.Y., Vladislav, G.Y., Barkovsky, A.N., Kravtsova, E.M., Kravtsova, O.S., Mubasarov, A.A., Shutov, V.N., Travnikova, I.G., Howard, B.J., Brown, J.E., Strand, P. 2007. Assessment of current exposure of the population living in the Techa river basin from radioactive releases of the Mayak facility. Health Physics, 92, 34-147. International Documents and Special Issues Beresford, N.A., Howard, B.J., Voigt, G. 2007. International Atomic Energy Agency 2006 Environmental consequences of the Chernobyl accident and their remediation: twenty years of experience. Radiological Assessment Reports Series. Report of the Chernobyl Forum Expert group “Environment”. (Anspaugh, L. & Howard, B.J. Eds.). 166pp. IAEA: Vienna. Nisbet, A., B. Howard ,B., Beresford, N., Voigt, G. 2005 Baklanov, A., Balonov, M., Bergan, T., Bewers, M., Brown, J., Dahlgaard, H., Golikov, S., Heinrich, A., Howard, B.J., Iosjpe, M., Joensen, H.P., McClelland, V., Meili, M., Nikitin, A., Oughton, D., Palsson, S.E., Rissanen, K., Salbu, B., Sickel, M., Strand, P., Tsaturov, Y., Vakulovski, .S. 2004. AMAP Assessment 2002: Radioactivity in the Arctic. Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, Østerås, Norway. Brechignac, F., Howard, B.J., (Eds) 2004 |
