The Crisis Center constitutes a complex of information computation systems, equipment and means of communications used for monitoring NPPs operation and the radiation situation in nearby areas and for working out recommendations for the management of the Rosenergoatom as well as for the personnel maintaining that equipment and preparing necessary information.

In order to prevent emergencies of different scale, one should have different levels of emergency response, i.e. different levels of control and mobilization. The key levels of emergency response are NPP level, department level (Rosenergoatom), industry level (Rosatom) and federal level (Emergency Control Ministry).

In its work the Crisis Center directly or indirectly cooperates with:

internal and external emergency centers located at NPPs or their satellite towns;
technical support centers;
The Crisis Center of Rosatom;
The Crisis Management Center of the Emergency Control Ministry;
The Information-Analytical Center of Rostekhnadzor.

Since the Rosenergoatom operates NPPs with different types of reactors, the Crisis Center actively interacts with the technical support centers of their designer companies.

The work of the Center’s experts is based on the following principles:

1. Experience, knowledge and creativity are the basis of emergency assessment and prevention, as emergencies at NPPs happen very rarely and seldom fit into model scenarios. So, in order to correctly assess the situation, specialists should have all possible information about the emergency: preliminary and online.

2. The Center’s Expert Group is an organizational structure closely monitoring risky facilities and preparing emergency response solutions in cooperation with leading experts.

3. The Support Group keeps all systems at work.

4. Emergency preparedness is based on the "duty on call" principle, i.e. experts remain on duty but are always ready to receive a signal whether at work or at home.

5. For higher efficiency the work of the experts is organized in work zones:

Reactor safety;
Radiation safety.

6. The Center’s experts cooperate with the experts of technical support centers and NPPs. New information technologies and common information space allow experts to quickly exchange information, organize video conferences and distance consultations without leaving their work places.

Technical support centers have enough technological and methodological capacities to effectively help the Crisis Center. The Center carries out only model preliminary assessment, while all the following assessments are based on the data provided by TSCs.

VNIIAES plays a special role among TSCs as it is the closest to the Center (it is located in the same building) and, as the key expert group for NPP operation, it coordinates the actions of all the other TSCs.

New information technologies require new work organization and cooperation solutions. Modern communication technologies ensure effective live interaction.

The work of the Crisis Center is based on three major principles:

The experience, knowledge and creativity of experts are the key guarantee of effective emergency assessment and response.
Experts should be provided with all necessary information both operative and model.
High efficiency of emergency response requires simultaneous and coordinated efforts by NPPs, the CC and TSCs.

The Crisis Center has two functional groups:

duty shift;
support group.

The duty shift mobilizes all information support systems and timely notifies rescuers and experts. The automated workstation of the shift manager allows him to receive all necessary information about NPPs and to effectively exchange data with TSC and NPPs.

The Support Group mobilizes information technologies for supporting experts during emergency operations, maintains the Center’s equipment on a daily bases and ensures its readiness for emergency situations.

The Center is equipped with the following technologies:

universal means of communication: alarm system, collective notification system, video conference system;
problem-oriented information means: NPP parameter presentation, meteorological and radiation forecast system.
inter-computer distance data exchange systems – data transfer system. Online data exchange among local computer networks of NPPs, the Rosenergoatom and the Center.

The data transfer system is connected to the following NPP control systems:

information computation systems of power units;
automated radiation control systems of power units;
automated environmental control system of power units.