International cooperation in radiological emergency response

In order to manage a radiological emergency, transnational cooperation in an emergency response is important – because ionising radiation does not respect national borders.

Many countries have learned from past disasters – such as the Chornobyl accident – and have committed themselves to the early, continuous, and reliable exchange of information and data at both the European and international level in the event of an accident. These obligations are set out in various multilateral and bilateral agreements and treaties.

Germany cooperates bilaterally and multilaterally

When it comes to radiological emergency protection, Germany cooperates bilaterally with its neighbouring countries and multilaterally with other countries at the European and international level.

The agreements and contracts underlying this cooperation are signed by the respective governments of the countries involved. On the German side of the agreements, different authorities are involved depending on the level. At the international level, these are mainly federal authorities; at the bilateral level, local authorities close to the border are also involved.

In Germany, the operators of nuclear facilities such as nuclear power plants are not party to these international agreements but are nevertheless legally obliged to fulfil certain reporting requirements and tasks in the event of a radiological emergency.

Multilateral agreements of the IAEA with German participation

As of September 2023, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) consists of

• 180 member states, and
• various globally active organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

The IAEA is an autonomous scientific and technical organisation within the system of the United Nations and has its headquarters in Vienna.

Offers of the IAEA

Among other things, the IAEA offers its member states

• an Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC) staffed around the clock,
• a password-protected web system for the exchange of urgent reports (Unified System for Information Exchange in Incidents and Emergencies, USIE) and radiological measurement data (International Radiation Monitoring Information System, IRMIS) as well as the technical exchange standard IRIX (International Radiological Information Exchange), which was co-developed by the BfS and is also used in the German Integrated Measuring and Information System (IMIS) for monitoring radioactivity in the environment, and
• training courses and symposia to improve information exchange and international cooperation

and provides guidelines on various aspects of radiological emergency preparedness.

IAEA multilateral agreements on radiological emergency preparedness

Multilateral agreements in Europe

At the European level, various multilateral agreements exist for transnational cooperation in international emergency response.

ECURIE

With the decision for a European Community Urgent Radiological Information Exchange System (ECURIE), all states of the EU as well as Switzerland and Northern Macedonia have committed themselves to transnational cooperation in a radiological emergency. The legal bases for this are

• the EU Euratom Treaty of 1957,
• the EU Council Decision 87/600 of 1987, and
• the EU BSS (Basic Safety Standards) Directive 2013/59/EURATOM of 2013.

ECURIE is implemented, among other things, with the help of a European reporting system Web-ECURIE and the European Radiological Data Exchange Platform (EURDEP), which the BfS helped to develop. The Web-ECURIE and EURDEP platforms are linked to the IAEA systems.

As of 2024, 39 countries are linked in EURDEP. In addition to EU member states, countries outside the EU use the platform as "informal partners" without legal obligation.

ECURIE member states commit to

• informing the European Commission and affected neighbouring states in good time of relevant data and information important to the public in the event of a radiological emergency (What measures have been taken to protect populations? What measurement data are available?),
• exchanging notifications (e.g. as part of the duty to alert in the case of radiological emergencies) using the online notification platform Web-ECURIE in order to fulfil, among other things, the obligation of the European Commission to alert the national authorities in the member states and to clearly communicate significant changes in real time,
• permanently publishing their measurement data, in particular measurements of the gamma ambient dose rate, on the joint platform EURDEP as part of the Radioactivity Environmental Monitoring Online (REMon), which is also visible to the public,
• ensuring the availability of the national contact partners – in Germany these are the Joint Information and Situation Centre of the Federal Government and the Federal States (GMLZ) as the national specialist situation centre for civil protection in Germany in the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building, and Community as well as the Federal Radiological Situation Centre as the specialist contact partner of the Federal Environment Ministry – around the clock,
• carrying out joint exercises and
• supporting each other in radiological emergency protection and cooperating professionally.

Cooperation in the Council of Baltic Sea States

Another multilateral agreement has been concluded by states bordering the Baltic Sea; these have joined together in the Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS), an intergovernmental political forum for regional cooperation.

Within the framework of this cooperation, the member states of the CBSS undertake, among other things, to provide each other with the measurement results of their ambient dose rate measurement networks and the results of their airborne aerosol measurements in an automated manner.

Bilateral agreements with states neighbouring Germany

In order to be able to jointly manage radiological incidents in nuclear facilities close to the border, in addition to international and multilateral agreements, Germany has concluded bilateral agreements with eight of its neighbouring countries

• Belgium,
• Denmark,
• France,
• The Netherlands,
• Austria,
• Poland,
• Switzerland, and
• The Czech Republic

to regulate the exchange of information on nuclear facilities close to the border. In these bilateral agreements, a shorter time basis (compared with the multilateral agreements) for alerting and exchanging data and information is stipulated.

The bilateral agreements with the eight neighbouring countries have existed in part for a long time and include mandated, topic-specific working groups that meet at least annually for direct exchange and discussion of

• incidents,
• national rule changes,
• scientific, technical, and political developments for emergency response,
• radiation and occupational safety.

On the German side, representatives of the federal government as well as local and regional authorities of the federal states bordering the neighbouring state are involved in the commissions. Bilateral cooperation is practised in regular joint exercises.