Press release
Paris, 11 April 1997

NEA to sponsor an international nuclear emergency exercise in Finland

On 17 April 1997, the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA) will sponsor an international nuclear emergency exercise, built around a national-level exercise, at the Loviisa nuclear power plant in Finland. This will be the second in a series of exercises (INEX-2) involving specific Member country nuclear facilities, which was started in 1996 and will continue until 1998.

The objectives of this exercise are:

  • to test the communications systems that would be used in a real emergency for notification and exchange of information;
  • to test decision-making on countermeasures in the early phase of an accident based on incomplete or uncertain information;
  • to test the communication of information to the public in nuclear emergency situations.

The scenario for this exercise will be based on a simulated accident at the Finnish Loviisa nuclear power plant. Twenty-seven countries from Eastern and Western Europe, Asia and North America will participate, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Commission (EC) will activate their accident notification systems. All countries taking part will be able to test their own national emergency plans on the basis of information provided by Finnish nuclear authorities during the exercise.

An earlier INEX-2 exercise was organised in Switzerland in 1996. Two further exercises will be organised in 1998 in Canada and Hungary.


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