Crisis Management Group-DAE
The ‘Crisis Management Plan’ of Government of India, which was first issued by Cabinet Secretariat in 1987,identities the ‘Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)’ along with ‘Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)’ as the Central Nodal Ministry/Department responsible for handling any Nuclear or Radiological Emergency(NRE) in public domain. As a result, a “Crisis Management Group(CMG)” was constituted in the Department in 1987. This was in the backdrop of Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 1984 and Chernobyl Nuclear Accident in 1986. Since then a lot of structural changes have taken place in disaster management in India. The Disaster Management Act, 2005 was departure from the then existing reactive approach to a more inclusive and proactive approach to any disaster management in the country including NRE. The National Disaster Management Plan-2019 of NDMA identifies DAE as the lead department to provide technical support and expert guidance to deal with any NRE situation. CMG-DAE has been entrusted the rolesand responsibilities during entire spectrum of disaster management activities including preparedness, planning, capacity building and response to any NRE situation in the country. .
CMG-DAE provides response to any incident having nuclear or radiological origin. On Receipt of information, it mobilizes its team to incident site for radiological assessment. The functions of CMG are supported by various Resource Groups which provide assistance and support in the areas of radiation measurement and protection, medical assistance to radiation affected personnel, radioactive waste management, communication support, seismological input and dissemination of information to the public. CMG-DAE has the powers to draw upon the expertise and infrastructural support of any of the units of the Department to carry out its functions.
CMG-DAE is a group of experts in analyzing, advising and handling NRE. CMG-DAE draws its members from domain experts working with AERB and other units of DAE. Head, Nuclear Controls and Planning Wing (NCPW), DAE is the ex-officio Chairman of the CMG-DAE.The MemberSecretary, CMG-DAE who coordinates all the activities of CMG is a nominee of Secretary, DAE. Director/ Associate Director, HS&EG, BARC is a member of CMG and ex-officio Radiation Emergency Response Director (RERD) under whose guidance the RERCs (Radiation Emergency Response Centers) function.
CMG-DAE operates two Emergency control rooms (ECRs) on round the clock basis which act as ‘National Warning Point (NWP)’ for any nuclear or radiological incident in the country.A network of 25 RERCs has been established at 25 locations across the country to deal with any radiation emergency in public domain. The responsibilities of the RERCs are to provide field response comprising of radiation monitoring, radiological assessment and technical inputs to CMG-DAE for decision making and provide technical advice to the first responders and the local authorities.
CMG-DAE also acts as ‘Competent Authority’ under International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) conventions on ‘Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident’ and ‘Assistance in the case of Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency’ to which India is a signatory. CMG-DAE actively participates in ConvEx (Convention Exercise) conducted by IAEA from time to time.
CMG-DAE assumes the role of Disaster Management Cell (DMC) for DAE in any disaster like situations (due to natural or human induced) arising in or around any of the DAE units/facilities. DAE-DMC provides necessary support to the Disaster Management Cell of the affected DAE unit when a requirement arises for coordinating response / mitigation actions with the state/central agencies. Joint Secretary (A&A), DAE act as Nodal Officer, DAE-DMC.