Nuclear disaster preparedness: Commission to fund assessment in Eastern and Central Europe and in former Soviet Union

The European Union is making available a grant of 258,170 ECU to fund an assessment on the state of disaster preparedness in the countries of east and central Europe and the former Soviet Union. The idea is to set the scene for a better safety culture and to improve protection for people in both east and western Europe, considering that when nuclear disaster occurs, what happens off-site is potentially vital in limiting the damage.

The European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO), which works on disaster preparedness as well as on relief, has asked a consortium of Swedish, German and Austrian organisations to carry out an assessment in view of a disaster preparedness policy.

The countries they will examine are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Poland, Slovenia, the Slovak Republic, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and the Ukraine.

The team will carry out a project whose main aims are:

o to assess emergency preparedness for nuclear accidents in these countries with a view to identify areas in which assistance could help improve it

o to set up an electronic information data base to help monitor the implementation of future Commission programmes in this area.

The results will contribute to better coordination of policy that will also involve the European Commission's Tacis and Phare programmes of assistance in the region.