Responsibilities of the Federal Government, the states and operators in radiological emergency preparedness

The term "radiological emergency preparedness" refers to the protection of the public from the effects of radiological events. Radiological events include accidents in nuclear power stations and other nuclear facilities, transport accidents and terrorist attacks ("dirty bombs").

Accident management (on-site): responsibilities of the facility operator

In a nuclear facility - for example a nuclear power plant - the operator is responsible for the safety of the facility. Emergency preparedness within facilities comprises all technical and organisational measures put in place within the nuclear facility to ensure that no hazardous quantities of radioactive materials are released into the environment.

If an emergency occurs despite these measures, the operator must immediately inform the responsible authorities at the Federal Government, state and local authority level (usually the Ministry for the Environment in the state and the Federal Minister for the Environment are responsible for overseeing nuclear facilities).

Emergency preparedness (off-site): responsibilities of the Federal Government, the states and local authorities

State authorities are responsible for emergency preparedness outside of facilities. They initiate the necessary emergency protective measures for the public as quickly as possible based on an assessment of the radiological situation by the Federal Radiological Situation Centre (Radiologisches Lagezentrum des Bundes, RLZ). It is the responsibility of the state authorities to protect the public and the environment outside a nuclear facility from hazardous amounts of radioactive materials.

Federal Radiological Situation Centre as a crisis committee

In the case of an emergency with radiological impact on humans and the environment, the Federal Government forms a crisis committee, the Federal Radiological Situation Centre , under the leadership of the Federal Environment Ministry (BMUV). If there is a radiological or nuclear emergency of trans regional significance, the RLZ provides federal and state authorities with a uniform situation report of the radiological situation. It also coordinates radiological measurements, recommends protective measures, and informs the general population.

As consultants to the Federal Ministry for the Environment, the Reactor Safety Commission (Reaktor-Sicherheitskommission, RSK) and the Commission on Radiological Protection (Strahlenschutzkommission, SSK) supports the RLZ in the adoption of radiation protection measures. The RLZ also works closely together with the state governments.

Federal states implement civil protection measures

In a radiological emergency, the states come to an agreement with the Federal Government about the necessary civil protection measures and implement these.

The civil protection authorities in the states arrange for example that the public remains indoors with windows and doors closed so as to minimise the dose received from external radiation and inhalation. If this is insufficient, the affected population can be evacuated. The civil protection authorities also organise the distribution of high-dose iodine tablets; taking these prevents the development of thyroid cancer in children and adults.

The Federal Agency for Technical Relief (Technisches Hilfswerk, THW), the police forces, the fire service and various civil protection organisations support the state authorities.

Once the radioactive cloud has passed ofer an area, radioactive materials remain on the ground and in foodstuff. The states then assess the contamination of feed- and foodstuff by taking samples and measurements. All results are sent to the Integrated Measurement and Information System (IMIS), which monitors environmental radioactivity.

Longer-term measures after a radiological emergency

The authorities have a catalogue of measures available to keep longer-term radiation exposure of the public as low as possible after a radiological emergency. This has been developed by the Federal Government with the help of the BfS. It is currently being revised, adding new information gathered after the accident of Fukushima.

The catalogue of measures includes a collection of possible long-term measures to be used after a radiological emergency, such as the removal of topsoil or the decontamination of areas with pressure washers. The measures should ensure for example that evacuated people can return to safe places of residence.