Nuclear technology contributes to development and sustainability in a wide range of sectors, from medicine and human health, to industry, to agriculture and livestock rearing. IAEA Safety Standards and guidelines, as well as other international guidance, are designed to ensure that nuclear technology is used safely, including in transportation and storage of radioactive sources. Even so, accidents and emergencies can happen. In line with its mandate to strengthen nuclear safety around the world, the IAEA has just completed a week-long International Conference on Global Emergency Preparedness and Response, held in Vienna from 19 to 23 October. The IAEA's technical cooperation (TC) programme, which delivers capacity building services to Member States, was presented at the exhibition accompanying the event.
The conference brought together 430 participants, representing 82 countries and 18 international organizations. "We assist in the design, conduct and evaluation of emergency exercises. We provide technical support to national and regional capacity-building projects. I encourage all countries to use the many services provided by the IAEA, including our emergency preparedness review missions," IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said in his opening address to delegates.
Many of the technical support activities mentioned by the Director General are provided through the IAEA's TC programme. Working with the IAEA's Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC), TC projects help Member States improve their capabilities to respond effectively to nuclear or radiological emergencies. In recent years, projects have been launched to assess national emergency preparedness and response (EPR) capabilities and, where necessary, to develop, implement and test national EPR plans.
The Schools of Radiation Emergency Management, recently established through the TC programme and facilitated by the IEC, provide a powerful example of the efforts being made by the Agency and its Member States to strengthen EPR capacities. Building on the wide range of high quality EPR training material developed by the Agency, TC projects are now delivering three-week Schools designed to provide specialised training for the next generation of senior emergency planners, including professionals from civil protection and disaster management organizations and national nuclear regulators.
In each region they are launched, the Schools aim to provide participants with a comprehensive understanding of international principles, requirements and guidelines on emergency preparedness, based largely on the IAEA's Safety Standards and EPR technical tools, such as the new Emergency Preparedness and Response Information Management System (EPRIMS). A pilot training course has already been held in Trieste, Italy in September 2015, with a full-scale follow-up course taking place in November 2015 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.