Sinead Harvey, IAEA Office of Public Information and Communication
IAEA Incident and Emergency System responders participate in an exercise with Finland to simulate a nuclear accident at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant, Vienna, Austria. (Photo: K. Vargas/IAEA)
When your job is responding to emergencies, then exercises are routine. On 9 December, emergency responders from the IAEA responded to a simulated event at the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant in Finland. Then, less than 24 hours later, the IAEA’s Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC) was notified that a real event was taking place at the same power plant.
Guenther Winkler was the IAEA’s on-call Emergency Response Manager that day. “I spent a few seconds thinking it was a mistake, but Finland was clear in their message that this was no longer part of the exercise.”
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From Exercise to Reality: IAEA, Finland Respond to Nuclear Power Plant Event One Day After Emergency Exercise
When your job is responding to emergencies, then exercises are routine. On 9 December, emergency responders from the IAEA responded to a simulated event at the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant in Finland. Then, less than 24 hours later, the IAEA’s Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC) was notified that a real event was taking place at the same power plant.
Guenther Winkler was the IAEA’s on-call Emergency Response Manager that day. “I spent a few seconds thinking it was a mistake, but Finland was clear in their message that this was no longer part of the exercise.”