16 March 2002

INTEX 2002 in Bulgaria The annual one-day exercise, INTEX 2002, of the NATO Group Experts on Warning and Detection Systems (GOEWDS) took place in Bulgaria on 16 March. Its aim was to practice communications and procedures for the international exchange of information on detection and monitoring of radiation releases threatening populations. A total of 688 participants from ten NATO and ten Partner countries took part in the exercise, which was based on three different scenarios: the first involved the re-entry and crashing of a nuclear powered communications satellite; the second consisted of a number of artificial nuclear incidents/explosions which allowed NATO to test its detection, measuring and monitoring capacities of radio-activity contamination; and the third involved an artificial chemical release, allowing participants to monitor chemical contamination in different weather conditions. The exercise, which had been prepared during a preliminary workshop in Romania, attracted the highest number of participants so far.