10/16/02-Longview Mock Radioactive Accident
Staged in Longview
How well and how quickly can your
town's emergency teams handle a chemical disaster? That was the question
Longview hoped to answer with a mock accident Wednesday.
The drill used this hypothetical
situation: A waste transport truck on I-20 crashes into a van which crashes into
a tour bus carrying 60 people with several injuries and a possible radio-active
leak.
Interstate 20 through East Texas is a
corridor for radio active waste shipments by the waste isolation pilot plant, or
W.I.P.P, out of New Mexico. In the drill, an army of emergency crews flooded to
the scene, keeping their distance and stop any victims from leaving. Organizers
say the scenario is key for teams to recognize the real danger of a situation.
18 different agencies from all over East Texas took part in the exercise.
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?tl=1&display=rednews/2002/10/16/build/wyoming/22-accident.inc
<DIV class=storyhead> </DIV>
<DIV class=storyhead>Base to test training for nuclear accident </DIV>
<P class=byline><B>Associated Press </B></P>CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Some 600
federal, state and local personnel will participate in a training exercise
simulating a nuclear weapon accident, officials at F.E. Warren Air Force Base
said. <BR>
<P>The exercise next Tuesday will include a mock collision between a tanker
truck and a payload transporter carrying a simulated Minuteman III re-entry
system. </P>
<P>Called Diligent Warrior 2003, the four-day field training exercise will be
sponsored by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and held by the 90th Space Wing
from the air base. </P>
<P>It will take place within the Wyoming Army National Guard's training facility
at Camp Guernsey near Wheatland.
</P>The Defense Threat Reduction Agency has been chartered to conduct
national-level nuclear accident exercises for more than 20 years. This is the
first time that such an event will be focused on the mission of an ICBM unit,
base spokesman Lt. Matthew Bates said.
The purpose of the exercise is to validate the plans, policies and technical
procedures in place to respond to real-world events involving nuclear resources
and to heighten the coordination and cooperation between federal, state, and
local response agencies.
The exercise does not involve actual nuclear weapons or radioactive
materials, nor does it reflect an increased likelihood that a real accident
might occur, Bates said.
The exercise will include federal teams from the Department of Energy, the
Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Defense, Environmental
Protection Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of
Transportation.
At the state and local level, the Platte County Sheriff's Department, Platte
County emergency management office, Wyoming Emergency Management Agency, and the
Wyoming National Guard will integrate their response efforts with the federal
response, Bates said.