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International Radiation Monitoring Information System (IRMIS)

While many Member States operate radiation moni-toring networks, radiation monitoring information generated from them cannot be fully exchanged and used by other countries in a timely manner during nuclear or radiological incidents and emergencies unless provisions are made to this end. The IAEA is therefore establishing the International Radiation Monitoring Information System (IRMIS), which willroutinely and reliably enable the exchange of ra-diation monitoring data and make it available to the Member State Competent Authorities identified un-der the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident (Early Notification Convention) and the Con-vention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency (Assistance Con-vention). The routine exchange of monitoring data serves as a continuous test of the data exchange ar-rangements and ensures the data’s availability during emergencies.

The need for the exchange of radiation monitoring data is based on the provisions given in the Early Notification Convention. It is also based on the IAEAAction Plan on Nuclear Safety, which requires st-rengthening information sharing arrangements and capabilities.

IRMIS will collect radiation monitoring data fromnational data providers, store the data in a data-base and allow users to query the database, down-load the data or display it in various ways. The datawill be exchanged in the International Radiation

Information Exchange (IRIX) format, which is the new-ly agreed data exchange specification of the IAEAand its Member States for the exchange of radiation incident and emergency related information.

Nuclear Safety and Security Programme

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Following consultations with experts from a number of Member States operating radiation monitoring networks and in cooperation with the European Radiological Data Exchange Plat-form (EURDEP), IRMIS is entering a testing ph-ase in 2013 with the purpose of evaluating the feasibility of the technical solutions proposed for the data exchange. The results of this test-ing phase are to be presented at the 2014 meeting of the representatives of Competent Authorities identified under the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident and the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency.

For further Information:Contact: iec-information@iaea.org

Write to:Incident and Emergency CentreDepartment of Nuclear Safety and SecurityInternational Atomic Energy AgencyVienna International Centre, PO Box 1001400 Vienna, Austria

Unlike national radiation monitoring systems, IRMIS cannot be used for early warning purposes. IRMIS promotes the exchange of radiation mon-itoring data as soon as it is available. Most of the radiation monitoring data exchanged by the IRMIS is therefore not validated and abnormal readings can appear amongst the hundreds of thousands of measurement results exchanged each day. Any abnormal reading must be con-sidered as erroneous, unless an incident or em-ergency is reported through the emergency communication arrangements described in the Operations Manual for Incident and Emergency Communication (EPR-IEComm, 2012), for exam-ple on the Unified System for Information Ex-change in Incidents and Emergencies (USIE).