No.

M26

Date

22 February 1988

COMMONWEALTH   PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY C. I. s.

INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR SAFETY COMMUNICATION LINKS

The Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade,  Senator   Gareth Evans,  announced today that Australia will take part in   an international demonstration of communication links on 24   February to test procedures relating to the Convention on Early   Notification of a Nuclear Accident.

About twenty other member states of the International Atomic   Energy Agency (IAEA) will also take part in the test   demonstration.

The Notification Convention was ratified by Australia in   September 1987. Following the Chernobyl accident in April .   1986, Australia played a prominent role in the launching and   negotiation of both the Notification Convention and its sister

Convention, the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a   Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency.

Senator Evans said that,  under the terms of the Notifications   Convention, a state is obliged to notify and provide   information both to states which might be adversely affected,   and the IAEA, of a nuclear accident involving its civil and   military facilities and activities, except nuclear weapons. All five Nuclear Weapon States have,  however,  indicated that

they would also notify within the framework of the Convention   any nuclear weapon accident which has, or might have,   significant radiological effects in another state.

Senator Evans said that the demonstration would involve the   IAEA receiving simulated numerical data from a designated   nuclear power plant in the Federal Republic of Germany and then   using the World Meteorological Organisation’s Global

Telecommunications System (GTS) to send the data to each   participating country which would then acknowledge the message.

The demonstration would involve follow-up measurement   information, e.g. meteorological data, sent in the period after   the initial notification of an accident or incident. Initial   notification would be by conventional means of communication.   The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation

(ANSTO) in Sydney would receive the message in Australia   through the Bureau of Meteorology in Melbourne,  the national   GTS entry point for Australia, and acknowledge receipt of the   message directly to the IAEA.

2 .

Senator Evans emphasised that the purpose of the demonstration   was not to model a reactor accident or the emergency response   arrangements to such an accident but to test the different   parts of the information transfer network for the specific

purposes defined under the Notification Convention and to   encourage other countries to complete their domestic   arrangements to link into the GTS system.

Senator Evans said that Australia’s participation in the   demonstration provided further evidence of the Government's   commitment to stringent international nuclear safety standards   and improved communication links to support such standards.

