EPA's Radiological and Nuclear Emergency Response Program

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EPA's Radiological and Nuclear Emergency Response
Program
June 18, 2009Presented byRonald Fraass, Lab
DirectorNational Air and Radiation Environmental
Laboratory
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EPAs Role in Terrorist Incidents

• Pre-release
• Support the DHS and the FBI in threat credibility
  assessment
• Can pre-deploy at Nationally Significant Special
  Events (NSSEs) or on Domestic Emergency Support
  Team (DEST)
• Incident-specific
• Post-release
• Forensic assets assist in evidence collection
• Emergency response assets respond to consequences
  of incident at the tactical level
• Clean-up efforts

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Consequences Response Role

• Provide overall response coordination
  (NRF/ESF10) emergency response
  management/support to federal, state, tribal, and
  local governments
• Perform and coordinate radiological monitoring
  and assessment
• Develop Protective Action Guides (PAGs)
• Provide Special Teams emergency response
  radiological expertise and support under the NCP
  and also as NIRT members if requested by FEMA
• Serve as Coordinating Agency under the NRFs
  Nuclear/Radiological Incident Annex in some
  circumstances

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US EPAs SPECIAL TEAMS Working Together to
Support National
Emergency Response
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EPA Response Assets













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- OSC Locations - National Labs
Centers ? - RERT Locations ? - ERT Locations ? -
NDT Location - NCERT
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Radiological Emergency Response Team (RERT)
Established in 1971

• Mission - leads or assists federal, state,
  tribal, and local response efforts before,
  during, and following a radiological incident
• Focus Radiation monitoring evaluation
• Sampling / monitoring
• Lab analysis
• Hazard evaluation
• Characterization
• Clean-up decontamination
• Risk Assessment
• Waste disposal

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Environmental Response Team (ERT) Established in
1978

• Mission Support the nations response, cleanup
  and renewal of its contaminated land, water and
  air.
• Focus classic environmental emergencies and
  more
• Characterization
• Sampling / monitoring
• Hazard evaluation
• Risk Assessment
• Health Safety
• Decon / disposal

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National Decontamination Team (NDT) Established
2003

• Mission to provide on-site scientific and
  technical expertise in response to incidences of
  national significance involving environmental
  contamination and acts of terrorism related to
  weapons of mass destruction.
• Focus WMD agents

• Sampling
• Health and Safety
• Decontamination
• Waste Disposal
• Nature and extent of contamination

Buildings, infrastructure, indoor environments,
agriculture, environmental media
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National Counterterrorism Evidence Response Team
(NCERT) Established in 2001

• MISSION To provide specialized law enforcement
  management of chemical, biological, radiological
  and nuclear (CBRN) incidents
• Focus provide special agents for crime scene
  forensics and evidence collection in contaminated
  zones

RNC 2004 NYC
RICIN INCIDENT DC
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Special Team Assets

• PERSONNEL
• Environmental Scientists
• Health Physicists
• Medical Officers
• Geologists
• Industrial Hygienists
• Toxicologists
• Chemists
• Biologists
• Engineers (Chem, Env, Civ, Nuc)
• Env Protection Specialists
• Special Agents Law Enforcement

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Special Team Assets

• Mobile Labs MERLS, TAGA, Phyllis, ASPECT, field
  lab systems
• Scanner Van/ERGS/Robots
• Real time Air Monitoring
• Mobile Command Posts/platforms
• Sampling and Monitoring equipment for
  rad/chem/bio
• Forensic sampling
• RadNet Fixed deployable monitors
• Fixed Labs Radiological and Mixed Waste

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National Radiation Monitoring

• EPA has upgraded its national radiation air
  monitoring
• because air is a likely pathway of exposure from
  a terrorist incident
• Previously known as the Environmental Radiation
  Ambient Monitoring System (ERAMS)
• Nationwide, continuously operating environmental
  radiation monitoring system
• Upgraded air monitoring to include both fixed and
  deployable components
• Air monitoring provides near real-time gamma
  spectroscopy beta detection
• Milk, precipitation, and drinking water also
  routinely monitored
• Helps decision-makers estimate the effects of
  national scale radioactive releases on human
  health and the environment
• Developed system to meet data quality objectives
  based on response timeline

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Fixed Monitor Systems

• Major Components
• Air Sampler
• Radiation Instruments
• Gamma Spectroscopy Beta Detectors transmit
  data in near-real time
• Data Processing Storing
• Data Telemetry4 options

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RadNet Fixed Air Monitors
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Deployable Monitors

• 40 deployable air monitors improve system
  coverage around an incident or potential threat
• Automatically transmit near-real-time external
  exposure rate
• Provide more flexible monitoring capability
• Include high and low volume air samplers and
  simplified weather station

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Radiological Incident Response Challenges

• Maintaining radiation emergency response,
  clean-up capabilities, and preparedness
• Application of DHS guidance for establishing
  cleanup levels
• Practical planning and exercises to make this
  approach viable and acceptable to affected state
  and local officials
• Expanding national laboratory operating capacity
  for radionuclides
• Processing and integrating massive incident data
• Ensuring that appropriate research is being
  conducted to help support our radiological
  clean-up mission
• Transferring decontamination clean-up
  technologies to urban environments
• Integrating limited technical specialists into
  national response