Radiological Emergency Response Planning

[Music] oh [Music] in this film we are going to try to give you an idea of the process by which certain plans are produced by local and state governments plans to protect the public against radiological emergencies of one sort or another and how we can minimize the effects of such an emergency should one actually occur who would do what when where to protect the public the process we're going to describe should result in an ability to make it all happen if there should ever be a real emergency how can counties cities townships look ahead what kind of training should occur who should do it how do we get all of the actors working together where can you get help we're going to be talking about radiological response plans which should be a part of a community set of plans for dealing with emergencies of many kinds natural disasters man-made disasters ranging from oil spills up the scale to nuclear war first there are a couple of obvious questions that have to be answered by a local radiological response plan for instance how are Communications for alerting people handled between a nuclear plant and the surrounding communities who's responsible for warning the public how can local government respond to the emergency what do local and state governments do to protect the public shelters evacuation what's the role of local civil defense state civil defense state and local public health if evacuation is necessary how do you do it how do you plan for it who makes the decision to evacuate where do the people go how do they get there are shelters available and when should they be used How are federal state and Community agencies coordinated these are good questions does the military have a role can the National Guard provide airlift can the Coast Guard help at the seaside or along navigable waterways keep such questions in mind as they apply to your area of responsibility usually the radiological planning cycle begins with the appointment of a planning coordinator by the head of local government the person who gets this responsibility is usually the local civil defense coordinator but it may be an official of the health department let's look in on the scene Charlie Charlie this is a directive which appoints you as planning coordinator for developing the radiological emergency response plan for our County pull up a chair now this document is evidence of your authority to act as coordinator representing this government on an official basis I go to it thank you sir I'll do my best with this to back me up I shouldn't have any problem good now I think you should review the state and nuclear facility radiological emergency response plans and in the development of the county plan be sure that it is Thoroughly coordinated with these now let me know when you have some recommendations to make don't hesitate to holler when you need some help fundamental to any plan to conduct survival and Recovery operations is the assurance that all actions called for in the plan have a legal basis emergency laws and ordinances should not give the head of a local government cause to worry that his decisions and directions may be illegal the coordinator should therefore have a working knowledge of existing federal state and local laws good plans are the result of a deliberate planning process we usually think of the first step as the organization of the planning effort phase two is the development of the basic operating relationships the basic plan and the annexes for each of the individual departments or agencies involved such as police and fire departments in the third phase those annexes and the plan itself are improved made final and merged into a comprehensive draft the basic provisions and concepts are examined to ensure that they are feasible then the draft plan is exercised and tested in phase four the coordinator reviews the plan with key officials and each of the local government departments to ensure that the plan is operationally complete and approved by all concerned there you have it organizing the planning effort completing the draft plan testing it and finally getting approval key elements of the planning process let's see now the coordinator has been duly appointed so suppose we look over his shoulder a bit come on the coordinator begins his task by obtaining a copy of a US nuclear Regulatory Commission publication on the planning process it is intended to be a guide and checklist which will help States and communities to develop and evaluate radiological emergency plans this booklet lists specific planning objectives and gives guidance to help you decide whether your plan can meet specific [Music] objectives in a nutshell this document gives a detailed list of items that state and local plans should contain responsibilities who does what how to warn the public what to do before during and after emergency what's involved in emergency planning well let's [Music] see emergency [Music] planning emergency planning encompasses organization facility and [Music] Equipment Communications training drills facility maintenance and emergency measures things that would have to be done to protect the people and who would do which things under emergency measures we have the activation of an organization problem assessment corrective action at the source of the problem protection of people against radiation and Aid to affected [Music] persons first let's set some boundaries the operator of a nuclear facility has an obligation under NRC regulations to to plan for any on-site emergency what we will be discussing today is planning for what happens or should happen outside the fence of the nuclear facility in the event of an emergency obviously there has to be very close contact and coordination between the planning of nuclear facility operators and the planning of the local government if an emergency occurs the plant operator has to take certain corrective actions he has to move to protect plant personnel and correct the thing which caused the emergency in the first place part of the operator's job is to make arrangements with state and local organizations to carry out certain emergency functions and for support such as ambulance Medical Hospital fire and police services the best counsel we can give to any newly appointed emergency plan coordinator is to consult immediately and at length with the operator of the nuclear plant to find out what the utility is doing and has done and how the local government effort fits in with the operator's plan and procedures the nuclear plant operator has primary responsibility for making initial judgments about the nature of an accident about its probable consequences and for notifying the proper Civil Authorities it is vitally important that instrumentation systems necessary for monitoring the radiological consequences of an accident be carefully planned and coordinated between the facility operator and the responsible local agencies after early accident assessment by the facility operator later assessment based on environmental measurements would be performed by state or local officials help in making this assessment is also available from federal agency emergency teams the first thing the coordinator of planning should do is Define the potential problem help is available from plant authorities and from State and County Health civil defense and various federal agencies in any case he should develop a hazard analysis which identifies the potential radiation accident sources which could affect his jurisdictional area and the consequences should one of those possible accidents occur the jurisdictional area could be a town a city or a county in making the analysis the coordinator must recognize the need to cope with a broad spectrum of potential problems and consequences when the coordinator is ready he presents his analysis of the potential hazards to the head of government and other local officials at a formal briefing in summary these are the potential hazards we should consider Airborne release contaminated surfaces contaminated food stuffs water contamination these are the protective actions which we should evaluate in relation to our particular situation in this local evacuation Sheltering preventing the spread of contamination respiratory protection and limiting access to a danger area we must decide which protective actions we should adopt if the need arises and just how we would actually carry out these actions for example how we would Evacuate the people from the danger area Char I think you've drawn up a good analysis obviously you've done some very deep thinking on this matter now while the probability of an incident is very low The Prudent thing for us to do is to seriously plan how to defend against it and organize our resources now we'd all surely rather have a plan and not need it than to need the plan and not have it now what's the first step to take what kind of equipment do you need how much money will we have to spend on this can we get federal funds where do we start I recommend the formation of a planning team for the county with representatives from all of the Departments and outside organizations that will be involved including State Health and state civil defense a planning Team all right who should be on it well the planning team should be composed of members from the same departments and organizations which are represented here today we should also have someone from the nuclear power plant it is particularly important that we tie in with the power plant now since public servic has already started construction out at Creek we need planners from our local emergency services from our Police Department from the fire department from Sheriff Martin office and we need help from our two hospitals from the county Medical Society the doctors and very important from our local radio station and TV station it would be terribly important to be able to get the word around promptly if an actual emergency occurred the local Civic and Service Group should be represented too I'd also like to get help from the state the military and certain federal agencies sounds good anything else yeah we have to lay out a schedule for ourselves of due dates when each of us will have his part of the plan ready to go but for now let's talk about the team I think Chris Hansen from the county health department ought to be on the team actually he should be key man since the health department has a big stake in this we certainly need their expertise okay Charlie you got him I think a planning team is a fine idea Maryann remind me to get out a note to the department heads to appoint a representative to this planning team uh also I'd like to send a letter to hospitals the medical society the news media and other groups in the private sector asking them to send a representative and give us a hand now look Charlie what I'd like from you is your recommendation say in three months time as to who should do what how each function is to be assigned and completed whether legislation or ordinances are needed what kind of money is needed and where it will come from and I'll take that package to the County Council okay in 3 months time I think we can do it the county has to seek cooperation from organizations not under local government control and if needed make formal agreements when this is done the coordinator has the assurance and the authority he needs he can be sure that he can get the cooperation he needs in a word he has backing come in hi Charlie I just dropped by to give you this signed copy of the memorandum of agreement between our company and the county supervisor's office we're now officially on the same team well fine herb glad to hear it have a seat thank you when's the first meeting well soon as I get my ducks all lined up I've just got the formal approval and authority to proceed with the planning so I'm working on the first meeting of the team now I'm making a list of functions requirements and tasks things I think are vital to the plan under all emergency conditions we will be following pretty closely the guidelines of NRC about how to develop the plan they have a good checklist after I finish this list of tasks I'm going to prepare a presentation a little talk for the first meeting this will be in the way of some initial planning guidance which I hope will be accepted by the various organizations I'm going to develop and spell out some specific instructions on the course of action we should take team members have to consider how they can develop their own procedures and what contribution they can and should make you mean each organization has to come up with its own special instructions and procedures take care of its responsibilities yep that's the idea that's what we need okay Charlie you tell us what you want and we'll work with you thanks herb I appreciate that see you with his homework done the coordinator calls the first meeting of the planning team he gives his presentation and tries to reach agreement that the tasks functions and emergency assignments made in this meeting are acceptable to the agencies and that they are prepared to go ahead on that basis it will take more than one meeting to reach complete agreement by all agencies each agency representative is designated the team leader for his own agency after the coordinator has given the guidance to the agency team leaders he then moves into a coordination role and stays there each agency representative then briefs his own organization he in turn forms an agency team and as leader prepares a tentative set of procedures to meet his agency's responsibilities in other words he repeats the procedure within his own agency which was followed by the coordinator at the local government level he develops and assigns missions functions and requirements in smaller towns and counties where the emergency organization is limited in size planning procedures are of course much simplified but requirements what is needed for the plan are the same whether the community is small or large the coordinator collects all the agency recommendations and selects the best course of action on how to handle each function in responding to a potential nuclear power plant emergency he makes appropriate recommendations to the County supervisor and his Council if his recommendations are rejected he and his team leaders go back to the drawing board now Charlie you say that evacuation of the county along the interstate and parallel State Road is the best way to go in your opinion but what about the small County Roads well the small roads could be used but it would mean using more Personnel to control the flow of traffic since there would probably be some traffic bottlenecks out there on the small roads we'd have to stop people from clogging the main artery at intersections the sheriff and chief Dickerson have discussed this they don't think our police force is large enough to man all the traffic control points on the small all roads well I realize all that but I think we have to do it at any cost to speed up the evacuations we have to find people we can deputize what do you think Harry I think we can get help from the state police Detachment and maybe the Civil Air Patrol we have some auxiliary police maybe we can recruit more well give me a report on that Paul what about some volunteer firemen now I know you have your responsibility at the station with your regular Force but do you think it's possible to detail some volunteers to back up the police on traffic control it might be possible we'll have to take another look at it good I think this is the way we ought to work it let's figure out first how many people we may have to evacuate if necessary we can use the small roads for evacuation as well as the main artery and let's make arrangements to back up the police at traffy control points on the side roads yes sir okay what's next Charlie we'll proceed to draw up the draft plan and take it from there well we're making progress the coordinator gives instructions for drawing up the draft plan he specifies the format to be used in the plan answers questions about the planning directive and makes sure the team members understand what is expected of them it is their job to prepare their respective agency annexes to the basic plan such as fire police welfare Communications emergency public information and radiological Health matters much of the planning work has already been done for example the concept of operations has been approved and the legal basis for operations has been established since the coordinator has already told the individual team members what requirements will be laid on their agencies by the basic plan the preparation of the agency annexes can proceed without the final completion of the plan itself the coordinator spends a lot of time with the individual team leaders when acceptable first drafts of the annexes and the basic plan are ready the coordinator calls another session with the teams and does a walk through using the NRC checklist and the information in the plan he conducts what might be called a feasibility check this is at to reveal many small errors and points where correction and revision are needed these are made on the spot the next step is to conduct an actual exercise to evaluate the written plan you can have a letter perfect written plan but it is useless unless it works in practice the exercise will inevitably lead to Corrections and will pick up omissions Federal authorities can help in preparing for this exercise and on request act as observers and make recommendations for [Music] [Applause] improvement this is a drill this is a drill there an accident is simulated in the building all operations Department Personnel report to the control room all other plant Personnel visitors and contractors evacuate to and assemble at the governor hun housee turn in film badges do simers ID cards at the outer gate the alarm is given for [Music] evacuation workers Evacuate the plant [Music] a mock evacuation is conducted at nearby School [Music] radiological monitoring teams deploy [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the local Emergency Operations Center is manned the hospital participates in the exercise the hospital is not endangered by the wind direction [Music] evacuated children are moved to a distant Town traffic control points are [Music] manned the state Emergency Operations Center is [Music] activated the hospital staff administers to a simulated casualty in a realist [Music] procedure evacuees arrive at a distant town where they are received at a Reception Center established in a school and registered by volunteer Red Cross workers following the exercise a critique is held the exercise size has revealed some deficiencies in our plan the bugs are worked out and the plan reviewed to make it as operationally sound as possible we are at the end of phase three in the planning process the plan has been drafted tested and revised the coordinator along with the agency Representatives prepares the final draft of the plan a date is arranged for the review meeting with the head of local government and the other members of his Council the coordinator rehearses the planning team for the presentation he presents the basic plan and the agency heads present the annexes the plan and all memoranda of agreement are approved signed by the head of government and distributed the end of the fourth phase of planning approval by the head of the local government but let's go over that planning process business one more time radiological emergency response planning using a four-phase process one organizing the effort two doing the draft plan three testing the plan with an exercise and four approving the plan the planning process described here is good not only for radiological emergencies but useful in any type of disaster emergency planning nuclear attack natural disaster power blackout whatever let me leave you with one final extremely important thought planning Is Never Done never finished remember that planning is a continuous process you must review check test and exercise and revise the plan constantly to keep it up to date names of officials and telephone numbers change all the time the question is not whether the community has a great plan on paper it's whether they put the plan into action on short notice when an emergency hits and actually make that plan work [Music] a [Music]