The First School of Radiation Emergency Management took place from 9-27 November in Rio de Janeiro at the Institute of Radioprotection and Dosimetry (IRD) of the National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN) of Brazil. The first full-scale EPR training of this magnitude hosted by the IAEA, the School was a thorough success and it will act as a model for other regional efforts in EPR training.
The school syllabus was designed by the IAEA's Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC) with the aim of ensuring participants receive comprehensive instruction in the basic principles of emergency preparedness and response (EPR) to radiation emergencies, based on the most recently published IAEA safety standards and guidelines. Among the main topics presented during the school were the basic elements of preparedness and response to nuclear and radiological emergencies, emergency management systems, protective actions, instructions to the public, radiological response, international arrangements on EPR and training and exercise programmes. The participants were exposed to different emergency simulated situations and tasked to respond to them by using the knowledge acquired in the school.
Participants also had the opportunity to visit a real emergency operations centre which would deal with nuclear and radiological emergencies under the "all-hazards-approach". They visited decontamination facilities where demonstrations were performed, and a nuclear power plant to see the arrangements in place for facing nuclear emergencies. At the end of the course, all participants elaborated their own national draft action plan to be delivered and approved by their national authorities.
The First School of Emergency Management in Latin America was funded by the European Commission and implemented within the framework of the IAEA technical cooperation project RLA/9/076, which aims to strengthen national capabilities for response to radiation emergencies in Latin America and the Caribbean.
