Participants analyzed capabilities for response to criminal or malicious use of radioactive material at the first joint training activity, since Spain’s Guardia Civil Explosives Deactivation – Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (CADEX-CBRN) Training Centre was designated an IAEA Collaborating Centre in March 2019.
Conducted in Spanish, this International Workshop for Developing a National Framework for Managing the Response to Nuclear Security Events, brought together representatives from law enforcement agencies, military, regulatory bodies and technical support organizations from seven Spanish-speaking countries. The diversity of the organizations represented mirrored the range of competent authorities that need to coordinate a State’s effective response to a criminal or unauthorized act involving nuclear or other radioactive material, known as a nuclear security event.
“Many response organizations are not specially trained or equipped to respond to the malicious use of nuclear or other radioactive material out of regulatory control and rely on technical support organizations or specialist agencies,” said Javier Medina, Guardia Civil Major, Deputy Director of CADEX-CBRN and course instructor. “These different agencies must understand each other’s capabilities and agree on their respective roles and responsibilities; so that, during the response to a nuclear security event, they are able to work together seamlessly.”
A national framework for managing a response to nuclear security events defines these roles and responsibilities and the interaction between stakeholders. It serves as a single point of reference for all relevant stakeholders in implementing a coordinated multi-agency command and control structure as well as effective communication processes and procedures. The framework helps a country establish a high-level administrative infrastructure to develop response plans, scalable according to the risk of the different types of nuclear security events.
The workshop was based on the international good practices, as identified in the IAEA’s Nuclear Security Series (No. 37-G) and focused on a practical adaptation of the concepts into a national context. In a series of tabletop exercises, participants considered a “rising tide,” increasingly escalating in threat and complexity, nuclear security scenario set in a fictitious country. Faced with the diverse types of nuclear security events, the participants evaluated the country’s response capabilities and developed a “response roadmap.” Participants identified capabilities-administrative, human resource, and technological – that needed to be strengthened for an effective response to fictitious nuclear security events.
“Practicing the analytical method of evaluating a country’s response to events, ranging from an alert of a malicious scheme involving radioactive material to criminal use of the material, is invaluable for internal agencies to evaluate response capabilities and identify stakeholders within our own countries,” said Jeison Alexander Sierra Diaz, a participant from the Explosives Unit of the Colombian Police.
The critical self-assessment introduced in the workshop helps identification of already existing capabilities that could be tapped into, or of the need to invest resources to build additional capacity, including with the help of other countries and the IAEA.
“The workshop, including the interactive and practical sessions, created a platform for linking existing needs with available expertise, among counterparts that share cultural backgrounds,” said Facundo Deluchi from Argentina’s National Nuclear Authority and course instructor. “Based on the tool provided by the IAEA, this workshop helps optimize the use of available resources, strengthening the nuclear security infrastructure in the participating countries.”
There are four IAEA Collaborating Centres in the field of nuclear security. The IAEA collaborates with the designated Member States’ institutions to promote sustainable benefits of secure and safe peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology.
