The European Community Urgent Radiological Information Exchange (ECURIE) is the European early

notification system In information technology, a notification system is a combination of software and hardware that provides a means of delivering a message to a set of recipients. It commonly shows activity related to an account. Such systems constitute an important ...

in the event of a radiological or nuclear emergency. The ECURIE system has two message types: an ''ECURIE Alert message'', which implies an emergency notification under

Euratom The European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom) is an international organisation established by the Euratom Treaty on 25 March 1957 with the original purpose of creating a specialist market for nuclear power in Europe, by developing nucl ...

and an ''ECURIE Information message'', which is a voluntary notification of smaller events and incidents. The possibility of sending ECURIE Information messages was introduced by the Commission in 2001. Since then, there have been more than 20 information messages. In 1987, the

European Council The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body that defines the overall political direction and priorities of the European Union. It is composed of the heads of state or government of the EU member states, the President of the E ...

mandated an early notification and information exchange system that:

requires from the ECURIE Member States that they promptly notify the European Commission (EC) and all the Member States potentially affected when they intend to take counter-measures in order to protect their population against the effects of a radiological or nuclear accident. The EC will immediately forward this notification to all Member States. Following this first notification, all Member States are required to inform the Commission at appropriate intervals about the measures they take and the radioactivity levels they have measured.

All 27

EU Member States The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

have signed the ECURIE agreement, as well as Switzerland, Norway and North Macedonia. Iceland, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey have also been invited. ECURIE is operated by the DG ENER of the European Commission with the Joint Research Centre responsible for technical development.

Usage

* The first ever activation of the ECURIE (European Community Urgent Radiological Information Exchange) system was after a

loss-of-coolant accident A loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) is a mode of failure for a nuclear reactor; if not managed effectively, the results of a LOCA could result in reactor core damage. Each nuclear plant's emergency core cooling system (ECCS) exists specifically t ...

(LOCA) in the

Krško Nuclear Power Plant The Krško Nuclear Power Plant ( sl, Jedrska elektrarna Krško, JEK, or , NEK, ; hr, Nuklearna elektrana Krško) is located in Vrbina in the Municipality of Krško, Slovenia. The plant was connected to the power grid on October 2, 1981 and went ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

on 4 June 2008. The power plant was safely shut down to a secure mode after a leak in the cooling circuit. According to the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration (the country's nuclear watchdog agency), no radioactive release into the environment occurred and none was expected. The event did not affect employees, the nearby population or the environment. Slovenian authorities immediately notified the proper international institutions, including the

International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...

and ECURIE. The EU then notified (through ECURIE) the remaining EU member states, issuing an EU-wide alert. Several news agencies around the world then reported on the incident. According to

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

such an EU-wide alert is very unusual. Surprisingly, the

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n authorities were not directly informed about the incident, although Croatia ''is'' part of the ECURIE system. Many Croatians heard the news first through foreign media and expatriates. Krško is located a mere 15 km from the Croatian border. * After an

iodine-131 Iodine-131 (131I, I-131) is an important radioisotope of iodine discovered by Glenn Seaborg and John Livingood in 1938 at the University of California, Berkeley. It has a radioactive decay half-life of about eight days. It is associated with nu ...

release at the Belgian

Institut national des Radio-Eléments An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

Fleurus Fleurus (; wa, Fleuru) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It has been the site of four major battles. The municipality consists of the following districts: Brye, Heppignies, Fleurus, Lambusart, ...

, 29 August 2008.ECURIE ALERT: Belgian nuclear authorities alert the Commission about measures taken after releases of radioactive iodine
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References

{{Reflist

External links

The European Community Urgent Radiological Information Exchange
Nuclear safety and security Warning systems Energy in the European Union Health and the European Union

Usage

See also

References

External links