21 Sep (NucNet): The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is revising the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) to make it “more versatile and informative”.
Rejane Spiegelberg-Planer, the IAEA’s incident reporting coordinator and INES officer, said the revision aims to consolidate the use of the scale to all events associated with radiation and radioactive material, including transport related events.
The IAEA said on 20 September 2007 that the revision of INES is the culmination of a lengthy and complex process. Since INES was launched in the early 1990s, several additions have been made to the methodology originally developed for nuclear power plants, while the last complete INES manual was published in 2001.
The revision process has involved IAEA experts, as well as the INES advisory committee and consultants in nuclear safety and radiological protection.
Once reviewed by INES members, the target date for officially issuing the new and improved scale is the end of 2008.
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