GRS supports the German federal government in developing emergency plans
What is an emergency response plan?
A situation is classified as a radiological emergency if, for example, large quantities of radionuclides are released into the environment. In this case, it must be considered whether any measures need to be taken to protect humans and the environment, and if so, which ones. Emergency response plans form the basis for all decisions that have then to be made.
They set out measures and processes that the authorities and organisations involved can use to respond to an emergency in order to prevent or reduce radiation exposure and contamination. On the one hand, the conditions under which actions - such as categorising an emergency, triggering an alarm or assessing the appropriateness of protective measures - are carried out are important. Corresponding criteria are formulated in the emergency response plan for this purpose.
On the other hand, the plans also specify which organisation is responsible for what. Depending on the event, a wide variety of federal and state authorities, plant operators and organisations in Germany and abroad need to work closely together.
According to the Radiation Protection Act, in addition to a general, overarching emergency response plan, various specific emergency plans must be developed and kept up to date.
The General Emergency Response Plan of the Federation
The „General Emergency Response Plan of the Federation (Allgemeiner Notfallplan des Bundes“ - ANoPI-Bund) contains basic protection strategies for various types of events - for example the release of radionuclides from nuclear power plants, accidents during the transport of radioactive materials or fires in contaminated areas. As part of the protection strategy, the emergency response plan includes radiological criteria. These can be used by the authorities in an emergency to decide on the measures to be taken.
In addition, the General Emergency Plan of the Federation contains an overview of the official procedures and instruments that can be used to coordinate emergency response in the event of an emergency. This includes, for example, the radiological situation report.
This is a report containing all the key information about the emergency, which is made available to all the agencies involved by the Radiological Situation Centre of the Federation. GRS colleagues have provided technical and organisational support in several projects over the past few years during the process of drawing up this General Emergency Response Plan of the Federation. The plan was issued as a general administrative regulation in November 2023.
The Specific Emergency Response Plans of the Federation
According to the current state of planning, the General Emergency Response Plan is to be further concretised and supplemented by a total of seven Specific Emergency Response Plans of the Federation. They relate to various areas of responsibility, life and the economy that can be particularly affected by emergencies and that are of particular importance for the normal everyday life of the population, also with regard to economic coexistence. These are the following plans and areas of application:
- The "Specific Emergency Response Plan for Civil Protection, General Hazard Prevention and Assistance and for Medical Treatment and Precautions following Exposure of the Population and Emergency Forces". It includes the area of application of "Medicinal Products and their Precursor Materials and for Medical Products".
- The "Specific Emergency Response Plan for Drinking Water Production and Supply".
- For the agricultural sector and the security of food supply, the "Specific Emergency Response Plan for the Production of Vegetable and Animal Products, Food, Feed, Commodities, Cosmetics and Products (...) of the Tobacco Products Act"
- For products of a general nature, the "Specific Emergency Response Plan for Other Products, Objects and Substances".
- For the logistics sector, the "Specific Transport Emergency Response Plan". It relates to cross-border traffic and the transport of goods.
- The "Specific Emergency Response Plan for Contaminated Areas, in particular for Contaminated Land and Water".
- For the area of waste and wastewater, the "Specific Emergency Response Plan for the Disposal of Waste and Wastewater and for the Construction and Operation of the (...) Facilities".
Task of GRS
GRS experts support the process of drawing up these emergency response plans in various projects by providing assessments and developing concepts.
In addition to the Specific Emergency Response Plans, there are to be supplementary documents which, although they do not have the status of general administrative regulations like the Emergency Response Plans, are to be published as concretisations of the General Emergency Response Plan.
In this context, GRS is supporting the Federal Environment Ministry in drawing up a Crisis Communication Plan. Furthermore, together with the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) and with the participation of the Commission on Radiological Protection (SSK), GRS is compiling a loose-leaf collection on protective measures in the event of radiological emergencies. It is essentially an update and extension of Booklet 60 "Overview of measures to reduce radiation exposure after events with significant radiological effects" (Übersicht über Maßnahmen zur Verringerung der Strahlenexposition nach Ereignissen mit nicht unerheblichen radiologischen Auswirkungen) published by the Commission on Radiological Protection (SSK).