2.5.1 General Principles on Operation of State Civil Protection System
Work on creating an emergency response system in the field of atomic energy use in the Republic of Kazakhstan began in 2000. During this period, international requirements and standards have changed, in connection with Kazakhstan’s participation in international treaties, conventions and agreements, which imposed additional obligations on the republic, and it was necessary to maintain security requirements consistent with those new requirements and standards.
The legal base for activity on emergency preparedness and response in Kazakhstan is the Law on Civil Protection (April 11, 2014, No 188-V) [2]. This Law regulates public relations arising in the course of civil protection measures and is aimed at preventing and eliminating natural and man-made emergencies and their consequences, providing emergency medical and psychological assistance to the population in the emergency zone, and ensuring fire and industrial safety.
The main objectives of civil protection in the Republic of Kazakhstan are:
1. prevention and liquidation of emergency situations and their consequences
2. rescue and evacuation of people in case of an emergency through emergency rescue and evacuation work in peacetime and wartime
3. the creation of civil protection forces, their training and maintenance in constant readiness
4. training of specialists of central and local executive bodies, organizations and population education
5. the accumulation and maintenance in readiness of the necessary fund of protective structures, stocks of personal protective equipment and other property of civil defense 6. informing and alerting the public, civil protection authorities in advance if there is a
forecast about the threat of an emergency and (or) promptly in case of an emergency
7. protection of food, water sources (water intake points for household and drinking purposes), food raw materials, fodder, animals and plants from radioactive, chemical, bacteriological (biological) infection, epizootics and epiphytotic
8. ensuring industrial and fire safety
9. creation, development and maintenance in constant readiness of warning and communication systems
10. development, implementation and monitoring of measures to reduce the impact or eliminate hazardous factors of modern means of destruction
11. ensuring the formation, storage and use of the state reserve.
The main principles of civil protection are:
1. the organization of a civil protection system on a territorial-sectoral basis
2. minimization of threats and damage to citizens and society from emergency situations 3. the constant readiness of forces and means of civil protection for prompt response to
emergency situations, civil defense and emergency rescue and urgent work
4. publicity and informing the population and organizations about predicted and emerged emergency situations and measures taken to prevent and eliminate them, including the elimination of their consequences
5. justified risk and ensuring safety during emergency rescue and emergency operations.
In accordance with paragraph 7 of Article 5 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On the Use of Atomic Energy” [6], CAESC as the central executive State agency in the field of atomic energy use
prepared a National Plan for response to nuclear and radiation accidents. After consideration and approval of a draft of the National Plan by all Kazakhstan state bodies involved in the process of emergency
preparedness and response (EPR), the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan adopted this Plan by the Decree of 19 August 2016 No 467 [14].
2.5.2 Functional Subsystem for the Safety of Nuclear Facilities.
The state civil protection system consists of territorial and sectorial subsystems. Territorial subsystems are created at the regional, city and district levels on their territories to prevent and eliminate emergency situations and their consequences. Sectorial subsystems are created by the central executive bodies to organize work on the implementation of civil protection measures within their competence. The state civil protection system has three levels: republican, territorial and entity.
Republican and territorial levels include:
civil protection authorities
control points and operational duty services
emergency prevention and response commissions
forces and means of civil defense
communication systems, alerts and information support.
Nuclear installations have special teams for the prevention nuclear or radiation accidents and to eliminate emergency situations and their consequences.
2.5.3 Information and Emergency Center
The management of the state civil protection system is carried out by:
the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan at the republican level
Governors of the respective administrative-territorial units at the territorial level
heads of organizations at the entity level and,
the heads of central executive bodies for industry subsystems.
The central executive body in EPR in the Republic of Kazakhstan is the Committee for Emergency Situation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (CES). The CES is responsible for implementation of the National Plan for the response to nuclear and radiation accidents [14] and for the preparation and participation of rescue services in the aftermath of a nuclear or radiation accident or incident. The CES is also responsible for carrying out work to protect the population in such cases, as well as ensuring fire safety.
The structure of the CES includes an Information and Emergency Center (IEC). The IEC assists the CES with:
emergency forecasting
collection, processing and exchange of information on the protection of the population, facilities and territories from emergency situations
development of emergency response plans
development and implementation of emergency prevention measures
planning the actions of governing bodies and civil defense forces and organizing the preparation and provision of their activities
preparing the population for emergency response; and
providing knowledge in the field of civil protection.
Representatives of CAESC participate in the work of the interdepartmental commission on EPR and provides to CES and IEC specific information regarding emergencies and shares information from international organizations and regulatory bodies from other countries.
2.5.4 Emergency exercise
The Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan organizes and conducts a special training on EPR on an annual basis in the CES Training Center for representatives at all levels of the State Civil Protection System. The duration of the training course is usually one week. The course is mandatory for staff and personnel of state bodies, local authorities and enterprises responsible for EPR matters. The course program includes a one-day practical exercise with modeling of any type of emergency, including natural events such as earthquakes or floods. On the final day of the training course, all students are examined.
If an emergency was to occur in Eastern or South Kazakhstan where nuclear installations are present, it would be possible for emergencies to be accompanied by a nuclear or radiation accident. In this case, the training includes a full scope exercise involving all levels of the State civil protection system. They are represented by: Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Ministry of Internal Affairs; Ministry of Health;
ME RK; MEGNR; Ministry of Infrastructure Development; CES; CAESC; and Local Authorities. Forces of
civil protection are also involved, including special teams for EPR from the nuclear installations of NNC RK, JSC NAC “Kazatomprom”, INP and the Disaster Medicine Center.
At the international level, representatives of Kazakhstan State bodies, companies and institutions have participated in events on EPR under IAEA support since 1994. Cooperation between the regulatory body of Kazakhstan and the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US NRC) and the United States Department of Defense began in 1994. Part of this cooperation was, and remains, training activities in the area of EPR.
2.5.5 Automated IEC Systems
The IEC working schedule is 24 hours per day, 365 days a year. The center collects and maintains
information received from all parties involved in the EPR process: regional commissions for civil protection;
State bodies involved in EPR activities; departmental laboratories conducting radiation monitoring; and institutions and organizations conducting radiation monitoring. Information received is processed and used as data for:
forecasting emergencies and their consequences
adjustment of emergency response plans
introduction, if necessary, of round-the-clock duty of heads and officials of governing bodies and civil protection forces at control points
collection, processing and transmission of data on predicted emergencies to the governing bodies and civil protection forces, informing state bodies and the public about ways to protect against them
taking operational measures to prevent the occurrence and liquidation of emergencies, reduce the amount of damage and losses in case of their occurrence, as well as increase the stability and safety of the operation of facilities in emergency situations
replenishment of the necessary reserves of material resources created to eliminate emergency situations and their consequences; and,
carrying out evacuation measures if necessary.
2.5.6 Radiation monitoring
Radiation monitoring is an important part of EPR in the field of atomic energy use. There are a number of enterprises and organizations in Kazakhstan carrying out monitoring activities on radiation safety and providing information to the CES and CAESC regarding EPR:
NAC “Kazatomprom” conducts radiation monitoring at enterprises of the uranium industry and carries out activities for the remediation of territories contaminated by radioactive waste from this industry.
IAE NNC RK and RSE INP control the radiation situation in the nuclear installations and research reactors IGR, IVG-1M and WWR-K.
The Institute of Radiation Safety and Ecology of the NNC RK was established in 1993 on the basis of research units of military unit 52605 and radioecological units of NNC RK. The main activities are radioecology and radiation monitoring of the regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan where nuclear tests were conducted or there are radiation-hazardous objects; remediation of radiation-contaminated territories; and investigation of medical and biological aspects of radiation effects on environmental objects.
RSE INP also conducts radiation monitoring on the territories where nuclear tests were carried out and measures concentrations of radionuclides in water and soil (Western Kazakhstan).
The state enterprise “Kazhydromet” monitors the level of global fallout of radioactive substances on the territory of the country.
Special laboratories of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and various scientific and research institutes and laboratories of the relevant profile also carry out control of external doses and measuring levels of radionuclides in soil, water, food and other products.
2.5.7 INES application
According to international practice, the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) is applied in assessment and communication of nuclear and radiation events and situations of public interest.
The Republic of Kazakhstan joined with INES activities in 2008 with the INES User’s Manual 2008 Edition being used for the classification of all events in the Republic of Kazakhstan since this time. CAESC is the national coordinator of INES.