Fifty-five States participated in an international exercise to test the international exchange of information during a nuclear or radiological emergency. For this exercise, which was held on Tuesday 28 February, the IAEA Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC) created hypothetical emergency scenarios for each participating Member State. The States received details about the scenario and practiced reporting the event to the IEC using the emergency communication channels. After each report, the IEC would provide an update to the scenario which would again need to be reported making full use of all the different features of the emergency communication channels.
Emergency communication sent to the IAEA is verified and disseminated to Member States through robust communication channels. These channels are tested repeatedly to guarantee the prompt exchange of information at the international level.
This exercise was also to test how Member States use the IAEA International Radiation Monitoring Information System (IRMIS) to share simulated radiation monitoring data with other Member States using the system. Each State was requested to upload its data to the IRMIS exercise system within a short timeframe.
The IEC conducts an annual programme of exercises to evaluate the readiness of the IAEA and Member States to respond to nuclear and radiological incidents and emergencies.
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This article has been amended from an earlier version, which stated that 45 countries participated in the exercise.
