ECUREX 2023, European countries test their ability to respond to a nuclear emergency

The international exercise ECUREX 2023 took place today, organized by the European Commission as part of the emergency notification system ECURIE - European Union Urgent Radiological Information Exchange.

During the simulation, a fire was hypothesized to have occurred in a Belgian research reactor containing unsealed sources. Following the news of the event, the member countries took action by exchanging information regarding any releases in terms of radioactivity, wind direction and monitoring of the values found.

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

These international exercises, in which all European Union member states are required to participate, are organized to test the effectiveness of the ECURIE system. 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 Department of Civil Protection and the Inspectorate for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ISIN) participated as the contact point and national competent authority.

The Inspectorate participated by activating, in particular, its own Nuclear Emergency Center - CEN.