Emergency response and nanotechnology( Learning from Past Emergency Respon...)

Learning from Past Emergency Response

In a special session running all day Wednesday, presenters will share lessons learned during past incidents involving emergency evacuations, including some involving radiation releases, and the ensuing emergency response (some involving radiation). Presenters use these lessons to model future event responses. One such paper ("Assessment of Emergency Response Planning and Implementation in the Aftermath of Major Natural Disasters and Technological Accidents", Patricia Milligan, pxm@nrc.gov) highlights what has been learned about emergency evacuations: "An important countermeasure in all radiological emergency response plans in the United States is the evacuation of the population in the event of a general emergency condition at a nuclear power plant. In January 2005, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published its landmark report, "Identification and Analysis of Factors Affecting Emergency Evacuations" (NUREG/CR 6864/), which remains the most comprehensive investigation of public evacuations in the United States in more than 15 years. Data was collected for 230 evacuation incidents, occurring between January 1, 1990 and June 30, 2003. Detailed case studies were prepared for a subset of 50 incidents that were selected based on a profiling and ranking scheme designed to identify evacuation incidents of sufficient complexity to challenge the local and regional emergency response capabilities.

Other highlights in emergency response session:

• Evacuation or shelter-in-place (Wednesday, 8:45 a.m.)
• Effectively using measures to mitigate the health effects of radiation exposure (Thursday, 8:45 a.m.)
• Current capabilities versus what may be needed in a response effort (Wednesday, 9:45 a.m.)
• Protection of life and property after a radiological dispersal device is activated (Wednesday, 11:45 a.m.)

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