Participation in the first NATO/SIRA laboratory exercise

Authors:

  • Annika Tovedal
  • Henrik Ramebäck
  • Björn Sandström
  • Ulrika Nygren
  • Erik Johansson
  • Kenneth Lidström
  • Göran Ågren

Publish date: 2009-02-13

Report number: FOI-R--2523--SE

Pages: 37

Written in: Swedish

Keywords:

  • NATO
  • SIBCRA
  • SIRA
  • radiochemistry
  • laboratory exercise
  • CBRN

Abstract

The very first NATO/SIRA laboratory exercise was arranged in 2005, as the needs of training the SIRA network laboratories in identification and quantification of radionuclides had been identified by the NATO working group SIBCRA. There have been similar exercises arranged for the SIBCRA B-laboratories while C-laboratories so far has been considered adequately trained as many of them participate in the international OPCW exercises. Seven NATO nations participated in the exercise: Canada, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, United Kingdom, and USA, while Sweden was the only PfP nation represented. The Swedish participant was the radiochemistry laboratory at FOI CBRN Defence and Security. The nations were coded in the final exercise report written by the organizer, but every nation received their own code. The participation of the FOI laboratory was a success and Sweden ranked highest among the eight nations. This report documents the Swedish experience from the exercise.