European Community Urgent Radiological Information Exchange
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The European Community Urgent Radiological Information Exchange (ECURIE) is the European early notification system in the event of a radiological or nuclear emergency.
In 1987, the European Council mandated an early notification and information exchange system[1] that:
requires from the ECURIE Member States that they promptly notify the European Commission (EC) and all the Member States potentially affected when they intend to take counter-measures in order to protect their population against the effects of a radiological or nuclear accident. The EC will immediately forward this notification to all Member States. Following this first notification, all Member States are required to inform the Commission at appropriate intervals about the measures they take and the radioactivity levels they have measured.
All 27 EU Member States have signed the ECURIE agreement, as well as Switzerland. Turkey has also been invited.[2]
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[edit] Usage
- After a small LOCA in the Krško Nuclear Power Plant in Slovenia on June 4, 2008, the Commission set off an EU wide alarm through the European Community Urgent Radiological Information Exchange (ECURIE). The power plant was safely shut down to a secure mode after a small leak in the cooling circuit. According to the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration (the country's nuclear watchdog agency), no radioactive release into the environment occurred and none is expected. The event did not affect employees, the nearby population or the environment[3]. Slovenian authorities immediately notified the proper international institutions, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and ECURIE. The EU then notified (through ECURIE) the remaining EU member states, issuing a EU-wide alert. Several news agencies around the world then reported on the incident[4]. According to Greenpeace such a EU-wide alert is very unusual.[5]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Council Decision of 14 December 1987 on Community arrangements for the early exchange of information in the event of a radiological emergency. Journal L 371 , 30/12/1987 P. 0076 - 0078.
- ^ Agreement between the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and non-member States of the European Union on the participation of the latter in the Community arrangements for the early exchange of information in the event of radiological emergency (Ecurie) Journal C 102 , 29/04/2003 P. 0002 - 0005
- ^ Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration website [1]
- ^ EU issues radiation alert after incident at Slovenian nuclear plant - AFP
- ^ EU löst Atom-Alarm nach Zwischenfall in Slowenien aus - AFP (german)
