Radiation Protection > Radiological Accidents – Emergencies
Radiation Protection
Radiological Accidents – Emergencies
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- Conventions on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident and on Assistance in case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency
- European Community Urgent Radiological Information Exchange (ECURIE) system
The Minister of Labour and Social Insurance, acting through the Radiation Inspection and Control Service of the Department of Labour Inspection, is also the Competent Authority in Cyprus for the European Community Urgent Radiological Information Exchange (ECURIE) system.
The ECURIE system is the technical implementation of the Council Decision 87/600/Euratom of 14 December 1987 on Community arrangements for the early notification and exchange of information in the event of a radiological or nuclear emergency. This Council Decision requires that the ECURIE Member States 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 EC at appropriate intervals about the measures they take and the radioactivity levels they have measured. All the 28 EU Member States, as well as Switzerland, have signed the ECURIE agreement. Other non EU-member state European countries and countries of Western Asia also participate as observers in ECURIE relevant meetings, as appropriate. Moreover, there is an agreement with the IAEA to exchange notifications with its early notification system USIE.
The Operations Control Center of Civil Defence has been appointed as the 24/7 Contact Point in Cyprus for communication with the ECURIE system.
- European Radiological Data Exchange Platform (EURDEP)
The telemetric network for radioactivity monitoring in the atmosphere of Cyprus, which is operated by the Radiation Inspection and Control Service of the Department of Labour Inspection, is connected to the European Radiological Data Exchange Platform (EURDEP) of the European Commission since 10.1.2008.
The participation of the EU member states is regulated by the Council Decision 87/600/Euratom of 14 December 1987 and the Commission Recommendation 2000/473/Euratom of 8 June 2000, and is performed through Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) between the European Commission and each country participating in the network. There is however a gentlemen's agreement that participating to EURDEP automatically means that data delivery will continue during emergency. The participation of non-EU countries is on a voluntary basis.
The EURDEP network is currently used by 37 European countries for the continuous exchange of data from their national radiological monitoring networks in almost real-time. Each participating organisation makes data available on an hourly basis (in routine and emergency mode).
Under the above arrangement, Cyprus has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Commission and sends radioactivity environmental monitoring data to EURDEP every hour. Also, the Radiation Inspection and Control Service has on-line access to real-time measurements which are sent by other countries participating in the network.
In 2015, the European Commission launched its new website of the EURDEP network.
- Review of Current Off-site Nuclear Emergency Preparedness and Response Arrangements in EU Member States and Neighbouring Countries (December 2013)
- The nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, in March 2011
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