Re: Dirty Bomb

["Wagner, Eric" <WagnerEC@NV.DOE.GOV>]

>Jim_Hardeman@mail.dnr.state.ga.us wrote:

>To my knowledge, no "real" organizational structure like the one you

mention exists in the US. If someone has different information, please

advise. 



For situations where an incident is determined to have a radiological aspect

where a State feels the need for Federal assistance they can request from

the DOE a RAP Team (Radiological Assistance Program). The US has multiple

regions with teams geographically dispersed so their arrival can be in terms

of a few hours. If your local first-responders aren't aware of this asset

available for their use I would encourage them to contact their State's

radiation control agency (or equivalent). If the incident requires more

support than one team can provide the state can request additional assets up

to and including a FRMAC (Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment

Center).



>Yes, I'm aware of the Presidential Decison Directives (PDD's) on weapons of

mass destruction ... Once it goes boom, the Federal Emergency Management

Agency (FEMA) is in charge of "consequence management", but they will rely

heavily on the assets of other federal agencies such as DOE, EPA, CDC, etc.



Actually if you take a look at the Federal Radiological Emergency Response

Plan (FRERP - see links below), FEMA only covers the non-radiological

aspects of an incident. The Lead Federal Agency (LFA) for a FRMAC is

determined by type of emergency. For terrorist acts see section 5C for the

role of the FBI.



> Under the Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan (FRERP), the

"health agencies" will also form something called "Advisory Team on

Environment, Food and Health" (A-Team) ... this is composed of personnel

from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ...

probably both from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Despite being in the plan for more

than 6 years, and exercising at dozens of exercises, the feds have yet to

convince me that they can actually field a credible A-Team if they actually

had to.



I'd be interested in why you feel that they wouldn't be able to field a

credible A-Team? Off-list would be fine.



>Also, jurisdictional issues are quite unclear ... who's in charge, feds,

state or locals?



>From the Federal perspective, at least for the emergency phase radiological

response, it goes DOE->LFA->State. See the links at the end for more DOE

program information. Once the situation has stabilized the DOE and EPA

negotiate a transition and the EPA will replace the DOE for the intermediate

and long-term response. 





--Eric



FRERP links

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/frerp/frerp.htm

http://www.dca.state.fl.us/fdem/bpr/EMTOOLS/Nuclear/frerp.htm



FRMAC links

http://www.nv.doe.gov/programs/frmac/default.htm

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