A team of experts is in China for a security training exercise ahead of the Beijing Olympics, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog said Thursday, according to AP. The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said the exercise includes simulations on how to monitor for and detect radioactive materials, and what to do with such potentially lethal substances if they turn up. Some of the simulations are being carried out in the stadiums, it said. The effort is part of a so-called practical cooperation arrangement signed last year between the IAEA and the China Atomic Energy Authority. A June 2007 statement on the IAEA's Web site indicated that, as part of the agreement, the two organizations «intend to work together to enhance nuclear security arrangements for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.» Such cooperation is not new. In 2004, the IAEA assisted Greece with the implementation of a nuclear security plan for its Olympic Games. The watchdog said it also signed a similar arrangement with Brazil relating to the security of the 15th Pan American Games that took place in Rio de Janeiro last summer.
