LIAISON Newsletter Volume 1, Number 3

INEX-3 Exercise Tests Consequence Management

The ability of governments to manage the consequences of a radiological nuclear (RN) emergency was put to the test during INEX-3, a tabletop exercise held in Ottawa, October 18–19, 2005.

INEX-3 is the third generation of international nuclear exercises organized by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development–Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). The goal was to compare the state of readiness and decision-making process within the international community for late phase emergency and recovery operations in case of a national-level RN incident. The objective of the exercise was to test how governments managed consequences arising from:

• agricultural countermeasures and food restrictions,
  
  
• countermeasures that may affect travel, trade and tourism,
  
  
• recovery management issues, and
  
  
• public information.

As the lead department responsible for RN emergency preparedness and for exercising the Federal Nuclear Emergency Plan (FNEP), Health Canada planned the Canadian INEX-3 exercise with various federal government departments and agencies. Exercise Director was Health Canada's Helen Griffiths, Head of the Coordination and Operations Preparedness Section (COPS), Nuclear Emergency Preparedness and Response Division (NEPRD).

Along with federal government representatives, delegates from provincial agencies and ministries from Ontario, New Brunswick and British Columbia and from the US Federal Radiological Monitoring Assessment Center participated in INEX-3.

The exercise had three distinct phases—urgent, intermediate and long-term, and was "time compressed" so that it could span several weeks.

Its scenario involved the sabotage of a fictitious vineyard and fruit orchard in south-eastern Ontario. The scenario postulated the spread of radioactive material over the vineyard and surrounding land in early September but officials did not learn of it until six weeks later –October 17.

Investigations revealed that there was a high probability various food groups could have been significantly contaminated. The contamination was most likely present in the neighbouring farms and vineyards, and some of it could have spread to a nearby village.

For the second day, the scenario had moved forward by 21 days and was focussed on managing recovery operations for the contaminated lands and food stuffs.

"The exercise was timely, with respect to Canada's needs for effective radiological emergency management, said Brian Phillips, Director, Radiation Protection Services (RPS), BC Centre for Disease Control. "It provided a realistic scenario that engaged all levels of government, locally and some remotely."

The benefit of the exercise, according to Phillips, was the opportunities and challenges it presented to the RPS, as it had to respond to a major incident from a distance. British Columbia had been identified in the scenario as a province affected by the sabotage, when contaminated food items were discovered to have been exported from Ontario to BC for sale.

"The last time [RPS] was involved in a situation of this scope was when it was dealing with the consequences from the Chernobyl accident, where radioactive fallout was affecting Canada directly and indirectly."

"The exercise was extremely valuable, with a very thought-provoking scenario" said Maureen Griffiths, Assistant Chief, Provincial Prevention/Mitigation and Preparedness Programs, Emergency Management Ontario, as it helped to clarify roles and responsibilities, and identify gaps. "I would like to run the same or a similar exercise next year with our provincial emergency operations centre and ministry action groups playing along with our federal partners."

A report evaluating the Canadian INEX-3 exercise will be presented to a meeting of the NEA, to be held in Paris, in March 2006.

For more information about INEX-3, please contact Helen Griffiths at helen_m_griffiths@hc-sc.gc.ca

For more information about the INEX series of exercises, please visit http://www.nea.fr/html/rp/inex/