The Finnish Presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States Civil Protection Network organised a workshop in Helsinki on 27 November. It presented one of the main priorities of the Presidency programme, which is nuclear and radiation safety, with the focal point set on macro-regional risks within the area of nuclear and radiation issues. was one of the Presidency’s three main events of the year.
The workshop gathered over twenty participants from all around the region, including the Finnish Ministry of Interior, Joint European Reserach Center, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency
Presenting nuclear safety risk mapping
Workshop participants were introduced to two recently completed nuclear safety projects; Task F under project 14.3, which mapped nuclear safety risks in the Baltic Sea region; and ‘Loviisa’, a Finnish nuclear power plant exercise. 14.3 was presented by Egle Obscarskaite, Project Officer from CBSS Secretariat, and Juha Rautjärvi Senior Researcher at the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority and Chair of the CBSS Expert Group on Nuclear and Radiation Safety. The project structure and outcomes were discussed, as well as the lessons learnt. Additionally, workshop participants were presented with copies of Orange Book One and Orange Book Two which specifically address the mapping of nuclear risks in the Baltic Sea region.
The future of civil security cooperation
The workshop also addressed the future prospects and potentials of civil-security cooperation in the Baltic Sea region – a discussion driven by the presentation of a feasibility study, commissioned by the CBSS Secretariat, focusing on the enhancement and institutionalisation of macro-regional civil protection cooperation. The feasibility study presents recommendations of future action for strengthening civil protection cooperation mechanisms in the region from a long term perspective and can thus become an important tool for the development of nuclear and radiation safety in the macro-regional context.
Further images from the workshop can be found here.