ECUREX 2019, today a new international nuclear emergency exercise.

As part of the emergency notification system (ECURIE - European Union Urgent Radiological Information Exchange), the international exercise ECUREX 2019 was held today, organized by the European Commission.

The rapid information exchange protocol was prepared in the aftermath of the incident at the Chernobyl plant in order to allow rapid alerting of European countries should an emergency event occur.

During the simulation, a blackout was hypothesized at Unit 2 of the Dukovany nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic, with the partial fusion of nuclear fuel and the consequent release of radioactivity in the environment.

To verify the effectiveness of the ECURIE system, international exercises are periodically organized, to which all EU Member States are required to participate; their objective is to refine the functioning of international systems for prompt notification and rapid exchange of information in the event of a nuclear or radiological accident.

For Italy, the Inspectorate for Nuclear Safety and Radioprotection (ISIN) participated, as a contact point and national competent authority, through the activation of its Nuclear Emergency Center where where the emergency management support systems are operational.