From 21 to 25 November at the IAEA Headquarters in Vienna, 53 representatives from 45 IAEA Members States and two International Organizations met to discuss the lessons learned from the use of the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES).
Communicating with the public about radiation incidents and emergencies brings many challenges. For example, scientific terms and technical jargon are hard to understand for a lay audience. Additionally, the public perceives risk differently than experts. In 1990, in the aftermath of the Nuclear Power Plant accident in Chernobyl, INES was devised as a communication tool to help consistently communicate to the public on the safety significance of events associated with sources of radiation.
This week’s Biennial Meeting of the INES National Officers, besides being a forum for exchange of experience, focused on the current scope of INES; the events that have been rated on the scale in the past two years; and on the revision of the rating guidance captured in the methodology.
Simon Coenen, the INES Advisory Committee Co-Chair from Belgium, said that the meeting “gave each INES National Officer the chance to share their own experiences and learn from each other about the use of INES in the evaluation of, and communication on, nuclear and radiological events.”
Marty Larabie, the INES Advisory Committee Co-Chair from Canada, added, “In 2008 the application of INES was extended from its original focus on nuclear power plant events to include civil nuclear industry, nuclear installations and the transport, storage and use of radioactive material and radiation sources. In taking stock of how the scale has evolved, the meeting gave perspective for the work that will be done on the revision of the INES User’s Manual, the rating guidance for INES, as well as on actions required to promote the implementation and harmonized use of INES”.
How is the INES scale used?
INES is used to rate the safety significance of events using a scale ranging from ‘anomaly’ (rating 1) to ‘major accident’ (rating 7). Events are rated in terms of their impact in three different areas: impact on people and the environment; impact on radiological barriers and control; and impact on ‘defence in depth’. Levels 1–3 are defined as ’incidents’ and Levels 4–7 as ’accidents’. Events with no safety significance are rated “Below Scale /Level 0”.
Member States unilaterally decide if they want to use INES to rate events occurring in their respective countries and to use it in their communication process. Although the use of INES is voluntary, Member States in general agree to share information on an international level on events rated at Level 2 or above, and events attracting international media attention. Information about the events is then conveyed to all IAEA Member States through the secure Unified System for Information Exchange in Incidents and Emergencies (USIE) and to the public through a dedicated news channel (https://www-news.iaea.org/Default.aspx). More information about the INES methodology can also be found on the NEWS webpage.