[Front Page] [Contents] [Previous] [Next] Sector-integrated Environmental Assistance Safer nuclear power plants in Eastern and Central EuropeThe Baltic region energy supply depends heavily on a string of nuclear power plants in the former East-Bloc countries. Through its Ministry of the Interior's nuclear sector programme, Denmark has therefore provided assistance to preventive activities aimed at improving safety at nuclear power plants and limiting the impact of radioactive leakages. Administered by the Emergency Management Agency, the programme also provided assistance for cleaning already polluted areas. International cooperation The international cooperation on nuclear matters is broad and well-functioning. The cooperation is reflected in the regular consultations between Scandinavian countries on the planning of bilateral assistance to Eastern and Central Europe. In addition, the Danish programme is coordinated with the EBRD's nuclear fund in relation to improving safety in nuclear power plants of the region, whereas nuclear emergency management is coordinated with the EU and the IAEA in the Baltic States and Poland. The work to improve the region's nuclear power plants has been divided between the Scandinavian countries: Sweden concentrates mainly on the Ignalina nuclear power plant in Lithuania; Denmark and Finland cooperate on the Sosnovy Bor at St. Petersburg, while Norway and Finland work jointly on the Kola nuclear power plant and the Murmansk region. This is the reason why the activities of the Emergency Management Agency on improved safety of nuclear power plants have been targeted more at Russia than at Ignalina in Lithuania, even though of much more interest to Denmark in view of its location. In contrast, our emergency management activities zero in on the Baltic States and Poland. Parallel activities The Emergency Management Agency tries to ensure that environmental and emergency management projects relevant to all countries are realised simultaneously throughout the region. This procedure achieves both internal coordination in the countries and regional cooperation across national borders, which is essential to effective control of transboundary pollution. Additional information Information on the Emergency Management Agency's sector-integrated environment activities is available from: Emergency Management Agency Nuclear Department
New measuring stations improve nuclear emergency management One of the Agency's significant projects is the establishment of a number of advanced measuring stations in the Baltic States, Poland and Russia. The measuring stations are able to detect radioactive pollution at a very low level and also determine the radioactive substance which caused the pollution. They make it possible to distinguish radioactive pollution from the frequent and often significant variations in the natural background radiation. The natural variations in radiation may easily surpass the increase in the radiation level which Denmark experienced during the Chernobyl disaster. Automatic compilation of data The measuring stations fall under the authorities of each country. Their data are automatically collected once every hour, or if the station discovers a marked change in the radiation level. When set levels are exceeded, the duty officers receive a warning. The warning may automatically be transferred to the duty officer's pager or mobile phone. Measuring vehicles In addition to the measuring stations, Denmark has supplied a measuring vehicle to each of the Baltic States, Poland and Russia. The vehicles contain measuring equipment similar to the stationary measuring stations, supplemented with a BPS unit to determine the vehicle's position for automatic plotting on a map. For this purpose, the Danish-developed decisionmaking support system ARGOS NT is applicd, which has also been supplied to the countries. In addition to processing measuring data, ARGOS NT can also calculate forecasts for the spread of the radioactivity from a radioactive leakage. The Emergency Management Agency has initiated the daily exchange of different measuring data between the Baltic region countries. The exchange boosts the nuclear emergency management in all countries around the Baltic Sea – not least in Denmark. Partners The EU, the IAEA, the ELSAMPROJEKT, Brüel&Kjær,
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