IAEA projects in Member States

Strengthening emergency preparedness in Member States

The IAEA is authorized under its statutes: to provide for the application of its standards for the protection of health, life and property to peaceful nuclear activities. Moreover, under the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency, the Agency’s functions include preparing both emergency plans in the case of nuclear accidents and radiological emergencies and the appropriate legislation; developing appropriate training programmes for personnel to deal with nuclear accidents and radiological emergencies; and conducting investigations into the feasibility of establishing appropriate radiation monitoring systems.

The IAEA fulfills these functions in part through its:

Europe

At the request of Member States in Central and Eastern Europe and convinced of the need for shared and harmonised efforts between countries to strengthen national preparedness and harmonize international system, the International Atomic Energy Agency has been implementing the regional Technical Co-operation Project RER/9/064 (formerly RER/9/050) :-“Harmonization and Strengthening of Regional Preparedness and Response for Nuclear Emergencies” since 1997. Currently 22 Member States of Central and Eastern Europe participate actively in the project while Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the European Union and the United States of America have observer status.

The project’s implementation strategy has been that of a step-by step approach to establish adequate capabilities for response in case of a nuclear or radiological emergency. Preliminary activities were to achieve a common understanding of the need for adequate emergency response capabilities in each country, and importantly, to ensure that all relevant intervening organizations in the country were involved in the development of those capabilities. Specific issues that were addressed were: common approaches to emergency classification for Nuclear Power Plants (in addition to the classification scheme for PWR reactors specific schemes for RBMK and CANDU-600 reactors were developed); emergency communication procedures harmonized with the obligations under the Convention on Early Notification; radiological emergency response; emergency monitoring (including a train-the-trainers workshop in the 30km Chernobyl exclusion zone); public information management; medical preparedness and response; and exercise preparation, conduct and evaluation.
The project is managed through meetings of Member State representatives (so-called Project Steering Group and Area Co-ordination Groups), topical working groups, regional train-the-trainers workshops based on Agency standard technical documents and training material in English and Russian, and national follow-up activities. Activities of the so-called Model Project for Upgrading Radiation Protection Infrastructure and those carried out under national projects in Europe are harmonized with this regional project.

Last status report (434k)

East Asia and Pacific, West Asia and Africa

The framework for technical co-operation with countries in these regions with regard to strengthening their national capabilities for emergency response to nuclear and radiological emergencies is principally Milestone 5 of the Model Projects Development of Technical Capabilities for Sustainable Radiation and Waste Safety Infrastructure (RAS/9/027, RAW/9/009 and RAF/9/029).

The standard IAEA technical documents and training material (in English, French and Arabic) are used for implementation of an approach focused on infrastructure development, radiological emergency response training, medical preparedness, and drills/exercises. The project elements are principally regional train-the-trainers workshops on the standard material, with appropriate follow-ups nationally. Activities carried out under national projects in these regions are harmonized with the Model Project activities.

Latin America

The framework for technical co-operation with the countries of the Latin America region with regard to strengthening their national capabilities for emergency response to nuclear and radiological emergencies is principally through two regional agreement (ARCAL) projects. They are RLA/9/031 - Medical treatment in radiological accidents, and RLA/9/45 - Strengthening and harmonizing national capabilities for responding to radiological emergencies. The standard IAEA technical documents and training material (in Spanish) are used for implementation of an approach focused on infrastructure development, radiological emergency response training, medical preparedness, public information management and drills/exercises. The project elements are principally regional train-the-trainers workshops on the standard material, with appropriate follow-ups nationally. Activities of the so-called Model Project for Development of Technical Capabilities for Sustainable Radiation and Waste Safety Infrastructure (RLA/9/044) and those carried out under national projects in Latin America are harmonized with this regional project.

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