Criteria for the alert of emergency response authorities by the operators of nuclear plants
Recommendation by the German Commission on Radiological Protection
Adopted at the 186th Meeting of the SSK on 11/12 September 2003 and at the 366th Meeting of the RSK on 16 October 2003.
Addendum adopted at the 453rd Meeting of the RSK on 13 December 2012 and the 260th Meeting of the SSK on 18 February 2013.
- Publikation "Criteria for the alert of emergency response authorities by the operators of nuclear plants" Herunterladen EN PDF, 595KB, accessible
- Publikation "Kriterien für die Alarmierung der Katastrophenschutzbehörde durch die Betreiber kerntechnischer Einrichtungen" Herunterladen DE PDF, 595KB, accessible
information
Abstract
Under the Radiation Protection Ordinance, the occurrence of a radiological emergency situation, incident, design basis accident or another safety-related significant event shall be communicated to the Nuclear Supervision Authority and, if necessary, also to the authority for public safety or order as well as for disaster control without delay. With regard to the alert of emergency response authorities by the operators of nuclear plants, the Basic Recommendations for Emergency Preparedness in the Vicinity of Nuclear Installations (Rahmenempfehlungen für den Katastrophenschutz in der Umgebung kerntechnischer Anlagen) specify criteria for the alert phases "early warning" and "emergency alert". However, these criteria are formulated in such general terms that they are not suitable for direct implementation by the operator in the case of an event. Therefore, in a joint recommendation, RSK and SSK have further specified the general criteria laid down in the Basic Recommendations in such a way as to offer the operator the means of evaluating accident-related plant conditions, emissions or immissions according to clear technical criteria and directly measured parameters in the context of the alerting obligation.
The management of the emergency response authority is responsible for the initiation of the alert phases, which is carried out according to plan based on a recommendation of the operator. Thus, the operator's alert notification must include a suggestion for the classification of the alert (early warning or emergency alert).
As early as 1995 both Commissions had drawn up alert criteria which were applied in plant-specific form to all light water reactors in Germany. The criteria were last revised in 2003. The latest addendum was prompted by the experience gained from the accident in Fukushima, on which basis the criteria "failure of entire three-phase current supply" and "temperature in spent fuel pool too high" were added to the specific installation criteria for an early warning alert.