The Romanian Management System for Nuclear and Radiological Emergencies

Abstract

At national level, The General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (GIES) is the specialized body of the Romanian Ministry of Internal Affairs responsible for the coordination of all organizations involved in emergency situations management, as part of the National Emergency Management System (NEMS) and component of the National Defence System. The National Emergency Management System aims at prevention and management of emergency situations, the planning and coordination of human, material and financial resources. The NEMS is an integrated framework inside of which all the support tasks for prevention and management of emergencies are shared among national ministries, central bodies and non-governmental organizations.

The response is developed based on the National Plan for Protection and Intervention in case of a nuclear accident or radiological emergency, providing a national, coordinated response of all the components of the National Emergency System.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT NPPs affecting Romania

Romania has one nuclear power plant, Cernavoda NPP, with two units in operation, pressurised heavy water reactors of CANDU 6 design (CANadian Deuterium Uranium), each with a design gross output of 706.5 MWe.

In Romania there is also a nuclear research reactor (Tryga) and, on the Romanian Bulgarian border, the Bulgarian State has the Kozloduy nuclear power plant. Kozloduy NPP currently manages two pressurized water reactors with a total output of 2,000 MWe.

In case of an accident, the response starts from the lowest level raising to the national level, if needed. Under the GIES, are established the county inspectorates (42) and in the last 5 years, they were endowed with new techniques, equipment and special training of first responders which will be used in the field response.

The spread of these capabilities around the country takes into account the following criteria:

• The territorial risks;

• The financial capacity of the county to maintain and improve the technical equipment;

• The performances, endowments and the autonomy of the equipment;

• The existence of prepared personnel for these CBRN equipment;

• The readiness for international assistance missions according to the EU, NATO and bilateral agreements.

Taking into account all these criteria, the optimal repartition of the equipment around the country was chosen, thus covering, from technical point of view, the entire response necessity to a nuclear or radiological emergency.