During this ConvEx-2c exercise, a team member from the IAEA carries out a car-borne radiation monitoring exercise. (Photo: IAEA)
At the Incident and Emergency Centre, 30 responders from the Incident and Emergency System gathered in the IAEA’s Operations Area, to simulate the IAEA’s coordinating role in the event of a nuclear or radiological emergency. These responders were in continuous contact with 30 countries which activated their emergency response centres on 3 October as part of their participation to the exercise.
The ConvEx-2c exercise tested arrangements for responding to a transnational nuclear or radiological emergency and also simulated the deployment of international assistance teams to Romania. Eight countries and the IAEA deployed field assistance teams to Romania and worked together with Romanian counterparts.
Under the Assistance Convention, countries can request assistance in the event of a nuclear or radiological emergency, either from the IAEA or from other States. Because such assistance must often be deployed within a matter of hours, the IAEA maintains a database called the Response and Assistance Network, or RANET, where countries indicate that they are willing and able, on a case by case basis, to provide various types of assistance on short notice.
During this ConvEx-2c exercise, teams from the IAEA, Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Israel, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway and the USA responded to simulated requests for assistance from the “accident state”. The teams performed aerial radiation monitoring surveys in the first hours after the simulated radioactive release at Cernavoda nuclear power plant was stopped.
Under the IAEA’s coordination, the teams were able to cooperate effectively to conduct car-borne radiation monitoring over a large area, including several cities. Much of the data that they gathered was integrated and displayed on the IAEA’s International Radiation Monitoring Information System, a data visualization tool that displays large amounts of emergency radiation monitoring data. Two of the international field assistance teams also provided assistance to Romania’s personnel decontamination efforts.
“The teams were able to coordinate their planning and implement their mission effectively, and in a very short period of time, which is essential in an emergency, thanks to the procedures and processes laid out and exercised under the IAEA’s Response and Assistance Network,” said Florian Baciu, IEC Response System Coordinator.
“On behalf of the team from Lithuania, I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for the opportunity to participate in Valahia 2023. As a mixed team comprising representatives from two distinct institutions, this exercise provided us with a unique chance to collaborate on a common mission in an international setting, all while operating under unconventional management structures,” said Olga Andzelika Olechnovic, Head of the Radiation Protection Centre’s Division of Radiation Hazard Monitoring and Warning from Lithuania, one of the assisting countries participating in the exercise, adding that “we extend our sincere appreciation to Romania and all the organizers, including the International Atomic Energy Agency, for their exceptional efforts in orchestrating such a large-scale exercise involving international participants.”