Summary of JRC activities related to European-wide exchange of radiological information during nuclear emergencies

Full text: The large transboundary effects of the radioactive release during the Chernobyl accident evidenced the need for international provisions for data and Information exchange. The JRC, in its EC support activity to DG TREN H.4, called REM (Radioactivity Environmental Monitoring), has more than 10 years experience in developing systems to make early notification and reliable radiological information exchange available to the EU member states in case of nuclear accidents. The aim and status of these systems are described: 1.)ECURIE: The legal basis for the EC systems is the Council Decision 87/600 of 14 December 1987. It resulted in the ECURIE network which allows the EU Member States and Switzerland to notify an accident and to subsequently exchange the radiological information as required by this Council decision. The underlying information exchange code (C.1. structure) does not only provide radiological measurements, but also predicted values, site meteorological data and decisions taken. Software was developed to facilitate coding and decoding of the messages. Initially the messages were transmitted by telex. The latest software (CoDecS, in use since the beginning of 2001) uses ISDN and Internet for the Information exchange. lt runs an the Windows NT and 2000 platforms. Regular exercises test the communication system and the software. In view of improving the efficiency of data and Information transfer for their common Member States, the IAEA and the EC are harmonizing ECURIE and the ENATOM early notification system. A first result has been the definition of an enhanced CIS format. Modifications will be made to the CoDecs software and to the IAEA - ENAC website so that information can be exchanged between the two systems in an automated manner. The EC wishes to extend the ECURIE network to the EU candidate countries. The official agreements are in an advanced state and participation of many candidate countries is foreseen by the end of 2003. It is foreseen to enforce the role of ECURIE as early notification system and to reduce its role as data-exchange network, because the exchange of large amounts of off-site monitoring data is more efficiently covered by the EURDEP system. 2.) EURDEP: based on the need to enhance the ECURIE system, the JRC together with the EC Radiation Protection Unit (DG TREN H.4) decided to set up the European Radiological Data Exchange Platform (EURDEP) in 1994. The general objectives were: 'voluntary participation of European countries in rapid exchange of radiological information throughout Europe in order to support nuclear emergency response, and the exploration, without prior commitment, of its feasibility for meeting relevant EC requirements in routine and emergency conditions (Art. 36 of the Euratom Treaty, Council Decision 87/600)'. The EURDEP information exchange format has gained international acknowledgement in the past few years and is now also used an national level by various countries as well as for bi- and multi-lateral data-exchange systems (e.g. by the Baltic Sea States). During 2002 major modifications to this format were proposed and accepted (EURDEP format 2.0). The EURDEP network receives monitoring data from existing gamma dose-rate monitors in 23 European countries on a daily basis. The central EURDEP system at the JRC checks the incoming data an formatting errors and then loads the data in the EURDEP database. The layout of the system is such that it can handle the increase in load during an emergency (tested in 2002). A web application allows authorized users to view data on a European map. Downloading of selected data is also possible. The current system is able to handle all sample types as well as meteorological data. Further work will focus an motivating the participants to make additional data available to the system. In the first place they will be asked to include continuous aerosol, deposition and water measurements as well as meteorological data. In the longer term, the participants will be asked to send the whole spectrum of sample types that could be exchanged under the Euratom Treaty. In parallel, it is foreseen to further expand the system to include possibly all European countries. It is also foreseen to gradually move to a more reliable network architecture in the coming years. (author)