Nuclear Energy Agency 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;
and
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.
