The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will organise a nuclear accident exercise involving some 60 countries at a power plant in eastern Romania, the organisation said Wednesday.

The exercise on May 11 and 12 at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant is designed to test the capacity of states and organisations such as NATO to respond effectively to a nuclear accident, the IAEA said.

It is aimed at testing the communications networks and evaluating the technical implications of a nuclear accident in different countries, the agency said.

The Canadian-designed Cernavoda plant began operating in 1996 with a capacity of 750 megawatts. It is the only one in eastern Europe to use Western technology.