The EU-funded H2020 project PROACTIVE led by the UIC Security Division has had a busy autumn, collaborating with two other projects that are active in the field of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and explosive (CBRNe) security.
PROACTIVE was invited to attend the TERRIFFIC project Final Public Workshop that took place on 13 October 2021 in Aix-en-Provence, France, which gathered over 40 CBRNe experts. The event began with an in-depth look at the various technologies having been developed by the project, such as the world’s smallest gamma camera. TERRIFFIC then shared how these tools were used in the project’s two field trials. This was followed by a presentation from PROACTIVE on the PROACTIVE web platform and mobile app for CBRNe related crisis communication as well as a description of the upcoming three field exercise.
In the afternoon, attendees travelled to the French Fire Officers College (ENSOSP) for a practical demonstration of the TERRIFFIC toolbox and saw for themselves the gamma camera as applied to an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) as well as the use of HoloLens technology.
PROACTIVE was also invited by the INCLUDING Project to attend a multidisciplinary field exercise focusing on radiation, held in Saclay, France, from 20 to 22 October 2021. The exercise consisted of demonstrating the actions planned by the CEA within the framework of a degraded intervention in a radiological environment as well as new detector technologies used on UGVs and drones. The next day, the around 50 attendees were able to visit the decommissioned nuclear reactor on the CEA campus during the exercise debrief.
These two events allowed PROACTIVE to learn valuable lessons for its upcoming three field exercises to be held starting Spring 2022 and for the exchange of best practices among CBRNe practitioners, including railway stakeholders. The demonstrated mobile technologies (UGVs and drones) may be also used in the future in the railway environment should a CBRNe incident occur on railway premises or in their vicinity. Therefore, the UIC Security Division is looking into potential recommendations of such technologies in rail.
