ESTABLISHING A NATIONAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE CENTER

Following the break-up of Czechoslovakia to form the Czech Republic an d the Slovak Republic in January 1993 it has been necessary to establi sh nuclear emergency response centres for the newly formed nuclear reg ulatory authorities of the two countries. Initially IAEA sent missions from the UK to each country to determine their emergency response req uirements. Following these missions the UK Department of Trade and Ind ustry have funded the establishment of emergency response centres over the last three years. Providing an organisation with the equipment to respond to a nuclear incident does not ensure an adequate response. I t is essential to ensure that procedures for responding to an emergenc y are developed. Emergency exercises have been planned and executed to test specific aspects of the arrangements for responding to nuclear i ncidents. This paper describes the various stages of work carried out to establish fully operational emergency centres in Bratislava and Pra gue.