According to the Nuclear Energy Ordinance (NEO), events and findings in nuclear installations are classified as follows:

Severe Accident (General Emergency)

A severe accident (general emergency state) represents a serious current or a prognosticated radiological hazard to the environment, and requires the preparation of or implementation of protective actions in the vicinity of the nuclear installations.

Installation Emergency (Site Area Emergency)

An installation emergency (site area emergency) is an incident that could result in a general emergency or already represents a serious radiological hazard on the installation site. Such an emergency can lead to a prognosticated radiological hazard for the environment, requiring deployment of the emergency response team of the nuclear installation and external emergency response organisations.

Standby state (Alert)

A standby state corresponds to an incident that leads to a significant decrease in the degree of protection for operating personnel or that could develop into a site area emergency or general emergency. Depending on the incident, the deployment of the emergency response team or partial staff teams of the nuclear installation is necessary.