Countering Nuclear Misinformation and Maintaining Public Trust: Lessons from the IAEA ConvEx-2 Exercise

The exercise involved swift responses to the accident scenario  and included: posting press statements and content on social media, answering media queries and exchanging information with the IAEA and other countries via the IAEA’s Unified System for Information Exchange (USIE). Over 90 press statements were published in the course of the 8-hour exercise, as well as over 300 separate posts on social media.

“This international emergency preparedness exercise was designed to serve as a stress test for emergency communication in an era of digital disruption,” said Carlos Torres-Vidal, Director of the IAEA Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC).

The IEC used a social media simulator to create a controlled digital environment. This allowed participants to interact with simulated misinformation in real-time, mimicking the chaotic online conditions that might occur during an actual nuclear accident and the actions needed to support efforts to mitigate public anxiety or confusion.

As part of the scenario, participants faced a wave of fabricated social media narratives, including misleading reports on radiation levels, allegations of official cover-ups, and false images purporting to be emergency zones. These statements were strategically introduced to evaluate how effectively communication teams could identify and respond to misinformation in real time.

“In a nuclear or radiological emergency, the IAEA provides verified public information. For this exercise, the IEC tested its preparedness by activating its Incident and Emergency System,” said Torres-Vidal, adding that “as part of this action, we worked closely with the IAEA Office of Public Information and Communication to post press statements and social media updates to the simulator.”

“The insights gained from this ConvEx-2 reaffirm the importance of a proactive approach to emergency communication. Effective emergency response is not just about disseminating accurate information — it also requires anticipating and neutralizing misinformation before it takes hold,” said Florian Baciu, IAEA Emergency Response Coordinator.

By refining response strategies based on this exercise, the IAEA and its partners continue to enhance global preparedness. The goal is clear: when the next nuclear emergency occurs, facts — not fear — must lead the response.

What is the aim of ConvEx exercises?

Exercises held to test the operational arrangements for the implementation of the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident and the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency are called Convention Exercises, or ConvEx for short.

ConvEx exercises are designed to strengthen essential skills and test the knowledge on arrangements available to staff at the IAEA and its Member States, thereby ensuring an effective response to an emergency. They also give all participants, whether from Member States or the IAEA, practical experience and help them understand the emergency preparedness and response goals and objectives.

The ConvEx exercises are prepared at three levels of complexity:

• ConvEx-1 exercises are designed to test emergency communication links with contact points in Member States that need to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and to test the response times of these contact points.
• ConvEx-2 exercises are designed to test specific parts of the international framework for emergency preparedness and response, for example to drill the appropriate use of communication procedures; to practice procedures for international assistance; and to test the arrangements and tools used for assessment and prognosis in a nuclear or radiological emergency.
• ConvEx-3 are full-scale exercises designed to evaluate international emergency response arrangements and capabilities for a severe nuclear or radiological emergency over several days, regardless of its cause.