VATESI with other Lithuanian authorities participated in the ConvEx-3 international emergency preparedness exercise
On 24-25 June, Lithuanian State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate (VATESI), together with other Lithuanian authorities, participated in the emergency preparedness exercise ConvEx-3 organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The main objective of the exercise was to provide an opportunity for Member States that are parties to the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident and the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency to test their preparedness to respond to a nuclear accident with a potential transboundary impact. The exercise simulated an accident at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant in Romania.
VATESI specialists monitored the situation, analysed the course of the event, prepared and provided information to the exercise participants, and allegedly coordinated and disseminated messages to the public. The Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service, the National Crisis Management Centre of the Office of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and the Radiation Protection Centre (RPC) also participated in the ConvEx-3 exercise.
During the ConvEx-3 exercise, a parallel exercise on the analysis of environmental samples took place, during which specialists from the RPC and the Environmental Monitoring Laboratory of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant analysed the gamma spectrum of the aerosol filter provided by the IAEA and analysed the physical samples of the environment. Specialists from the Nuclear Research Division of the Centre of Physical Sciences and Technology and the Ionising Radiation Metrology Laboratory also analysed physical samples submitted by IAEA.
The exercise tested the IAEA's RANET response and assistance network. International assistance missions from Bulgaria, Canada, France, Lithuania, Moldova, Sweden and the United States were deployed at the site of the alleged incident and carried out radiation monitoring (land based and aerial).
Participation in the exercise provides an opportunity to test organisational and technical measures that help to ensure fluent operation of the VATESI Emergency Operations Centre, as well as to improve the preparedness of the institutions to respond to nuclear emergencies.
The IAEA organises at least 10 exercises a year at different levels to test the preparedness of countries to respond to nuclear and radiological events and to promote the development of professional skills. 75 States and 10 international organisations participated in this ConvEx-3 exercise in a complex format.