MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - The Ministry of Atomic Energy in cooperation with other federal executive bodies on Wednesday carried out an exercise in elimination of consequences of an attack on the train transporting nuclear materials, Venedikt Berchik, director of the ministry's crisis situation center, told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The exercise held in the vicinity of Rostov-on-Don had two stages. The first stage provided for classes in prevention and elimination of consequences of terrorist acts at military and civil nuclear installations. The second stage featured practice in cooperation between federal executive bodies after a possible blast of a train with special cargo.
The training involved means and forces of the Ministries of Emergency Situations, Interior Affairs and Defense as well as the Federal Security Service (FSB). Officials of the Southern federal district administration also took part in the exercise.
Emergency rescue groups of the Atomic Energy Ministry at the Novovoronezh and Leningrad nuclear power plants were put on alert. Corresponding bodies of Russian federal nuclear centers located in the town of Snezhinsk and city of Saratov were ready to fly to the scene of the incident with robot assets and other special equipment in an hour, Berchik said.
The crisis situation center of the Atomic Energy Ministry was established three years ago in order to modernize the industry's system of emergencies prevention and elimination at nuclear installations. The center carries out round-the-clock monitoring and control of technical condition of the industry's installations and adjacent territories, it controls special transportation, registers and controls nuclear materials.
The center has established and is maintaining stable communication with the IAEA, U.S. Department of Energy, corresponding organizations from France, Japan, Great Britain and all countries bordering on Russia. Quick transfer of data on emergency situations at nuclear installations is possible through those communication channels.