The five-day follow-up mission, led by Chris Dijkens, former director of international law enforcement cooperation at the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, will include seven experts from countries including Canada, France, Germany and Portugal, as well as two from the IAEA.
"Hungary has addressed the recommendations made by the original EPREV mission and has taken significant steps to improve its preparedness for nuclear and radiological emergencies," Dijkens said. For example, the country had developed annual and long-term training plans for various emergency workers and had issued protection strategies for such emergencies. This follow-up visit will help Hungary to further strengthen its emergency arrangements and capacity ".
"Following the first EPREV mission conducted in 2016, a practical example of the implementation of the international legal EPR framework was demonstrated when Hungary hosted the Convex-3 comprehensive Nuclear emergency Exercise in 2017," said Carlos Torres Vidal, Director of the IAEA Accident and Emergency Response Centre. This follow-up mission represents substantial progress in the practical integration of IAEA safety standards into Hungary's emergency preparedness and response framework."
EPREV group praised Hungary "commitment to the nuclear and radioactive emergency preparedness, reflected in efforts to improve the country's emergency arrangements", as well as its "Hungarian nuclear emergency system comprehensive annual training and exercise plan" and "strengthening the requirements to ensure that the operator fully prepared, in its site emergencies to reduce its liability within the scope of the consequences".
The review team met with officials of the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority and visited the National Disaster Management Directorate of the Ministry of The Interior and a facility that uses irradiation to disinfect food and packaging, as well as two emergency operations centres.
The IAEA team also made a number of recommendations, including:
• Complete analysis of national nuclear emergency plans and assessment of their compliance with IAEA safety standards.
• Strengthen coordination at the country level to ensure that first responders are equipped with detectors to identify the radiological conditions they may be exposed to while on duty and to enable them to respond effectively.
• Ensure increased awareness among general practitioners in recognizing symptoms of acute radiation exposure.
Andrea Beatrix Kadar, Chairman of the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority, said: "The EPREV mission in 2016 paved the way for the establishment of an action plan to strengthen Hungary's emergency preparedness and response system. The follow-up visits highlighted our implementation efforts and strengthened our commitment to further development."
Hungary, which derives about half of its electricity from four reactors at the Paks nuclear power plant, also operates two research reactors, an isotope production facility, a national radioactive waste repository and uses highly active radiation sources in the industrial, medical and research fields.