INEX-5
Completed

Key facts

Participating countries: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United States

Participating economy: Chinese Taipei

Participating international organisation: IAEA

Key topics:

  • notification and communication aspects;
  • trans-boundary aspects/interfaces;
  • identifying and obtaining resources during catastrophic events.

Key outcomes: Six areas for improvement were identified as part of INEX-5, including:

  • real-time communications;
  • non-radiological public health aspects of radiation planning and response, including psychosocial and other societal impacts of evacuation, sheltering and relocation;
  • recommendations for building nationally adapted frameworks for recovery in NEA member countries;
  • benchmarking of dose projection code outputs based on same (or very similar) inputs;
  • WPNEM member country updates of Protective Measures Handbooks;
  • involvement of decision makers in the planning and implementation of protective action strategy.
Publications and reports
2
results

Context

Since the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident, it has been recognised that notification, communication, and identifying and obtaining resources during catastrophic events can be difficult. Also, the need for established protocols, policies and procedures amongst and between country entities is critical for minimising negative impacts. Therefore, it was seen as beneficial to design an exercise which provides a basis for enhancing national and international emergency management arrangements related to those issues through the exchange of exercise outcomes and experiences from participating countries in order to identify good practices and common issues to be addressed.

In particular, at the regional level, it was observed that there is a need for some international harmonisation and co-ordination of protective measures to help to ensure a balanced response. The co-ordination of national responses is an important factor for accidents directly affecting several countries in a region, and for accidents directly affecting only one country.

Particularly since the Fukushima accident, many actions have been taken regarding emergency response and recovery plans at national and international levels. The INEX-5 exercise is an opportunity for participating countries to test and demonstrate the value of changes put in place as a result of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. The INEX-5 exercise has also been designed to test new actions/measures and approaches developed at the regional and international levels to enhance communication and information exchange, and cross-border co-ordination.

The INEX-5 exercises series were developed in 2013-2014 and were conducted between September 2015 and June 2016. The preliminary analysis of the INEX-5 evaluation questionnaires, as well as details of national exercise conduction, were presented to the WPNEM and the INEX-5 national co-ordinators during a topical session on 24-25 January 2017. The NEA's post-INEX-5 international evaluation workshop was held in October 2017 at the NEA in Boulogne-Billancourt, France.

INEX-5-Timeline  

Exercise description

INEX-5 was based on an escalating scenario involving radiation or radiological material that culminates with a natural event creating a catastrophic event with international implications. The start of INEX-5 exercise play began as a potential radiological event that included discussion of notification and communication processes. It then escalated to an actual radiological event and included the notification and communication processes associated with that level of the event. It concluded with a catastrophic event that involved international notification, communication and interactions associated with needs beyond those available within the country. INEX-5 had been designed as a question-driven table-top exercise to be conducted individually by each participating country.

As notification, communication and interfaces related to a catastrophic events exercise, the INEX-5 design specifically excluded the intermediate and late phases, except for appropriate notification and communication activities within the scenario questions, although issues originating during this phase may have been addressed.

The INEX-5 series allowed both individual national and regional exercise playing in each participating country or in a region hosted by one of the participating countries. INEX-5 was a table-top exercise addressing emergency management aspects of notification, communication and interfaces related to catastrophic events involving radiation or radiological materials. The exercise was not a real-time exercise, and it was neither intended nor designed to test any international conventions.

INEX-5 mainly addressed the phases of the EPR highlighted in the chart below.

INEX-5-Phases of the EPR 

Objectives

  • test and investigate the adequacy of national arrangements (including national co-ordination and communication), and where appropriate international arrangements, for notification, communication and obtaining and managing international resource support to respond to a severe contamination event;
  • review and share information on approaches to notification and communication processes in order to identify good practice and to allow review and improvement of local, national and international arrangements;
  • identify key areas and approaches to international co-ordination and communication in order to provide a basis for improvements in international emergency management systems.

Based on key objectives from INEX-5, the following specific topical areas, which form the basis of the generic exercise play, have also been established:

  • decision making on notification and communication strategies, including issues on optimisation (technical, economic and social factors), and international communication and co-ordination;
  • public information and communication;
  • national and international support (personnel, equipment, etc.).

The topical areas will be evaluated from both a national and international perspective, and from the core of the exercise and post-exercise evaluation questionnaire.

Key outcomes

Six areas for improvement were identified as part of INEX-5, including:

  • real-time communications;
  • non-radiological public health aspects of radiation planning and response, including psychosocial and other societal impacts of evacuation, sheltering and relocation;
  • recommendations for building nationally adapted frameworks for recovery in NEA member countries;
  • benchmarking of dose projection code outputs based on same (or very similar) inputs;
  • WPNEM member country updates of Protective Measures Handbooks;
  • involvement of decision makers in the planning and implementation of protective action strategy.