Radiological emergency safety expert John Darrin launched a new web site today to provide resources for emergency responders to radiological events such as terrorist attacks and nuclear power plant accidents. The launch is intended to coincide with the National Radiological Emergency Preparedness Conference in Norfolk, VA, April 20 -24. The site (www.RadiationSafetyInfo.com) includes news, training, product reviews, and other resources for these responders. Darrin says he will host and maintain the site, but the content will come from the responders themselves.

The potential for radiological emergencies has increased exponentially in recent years. While the safety record of nuclear power plants following the Three Mile Island partial core melt-down in 1979 has been exemplary, there is a new focus on terrorist attacks using dirty bombs or nuclear weapons. Following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center Twin Towers in 2001, the Department of Homeland Security released the 15 National Planning Scenarios as part of its National Preparedness Guidelines(http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1189720458491.shtm). These include scenarios for a nuclear weapon detonation and a Radiological Dispersal Device (dirty bomb), and estimate casualties as high as hundreds of thousands of people, with a million or more refugees and hundreds of billions of dollars in economic impact. It is this magnitude of disaster that emergency responders would face.

“There are many resources for the professional responders, the firefighters and the HazMat teams,” Darrin said, “but there is a whole category of responders, numerically it’s most of the responders, who will be pulled from their regular jobs and thrust into a potentially hazardous work environment with minimal or no training and few resources. These are the people most at risk.”

Darrin maintains that the professional responders are generally trained and equipped to handle the initial response to any event, to go in and stop the bleeding, so to speak. But the next wave, the bus drivers evacuating injured and the refugees, the heavy equipment operators moving rubble, the utility workers restoring basic services, all of these people have little knowledge of even basic radiation safety techniques.

The problem is, as always, limited resources. Even with DHS grants and nuclear plant fees, the states and local governments never have enough funding to do the whole job. “When it comes time to spend those precious grant dollars, what are you going to buy? Turn-out gear for the firemen who are out there every day, putting their lives on the line, or personal protective devices for bus drivers to use in the remote possibility of a radiological emergency someday? Devices that will most likely sit on a shelf for years, unused. You’ll take care of your firemen, of course.”

While Federal, state, and local authorities and non-governmental groups such as the Nuclear Energy Institute (www.nei.org) and the Radiological Threat Awareness Coalition (www.r-tac.org) continue to address these issues, Darrin suggests that it is the responsibility of the individual responder, and the associations and agencies and companies representing them, to assure an adequate level of training and resources are available. Unions charged with the welfare of their members, companies employing potential responders, and emergency response professionals such as state and county agencies, must use their positions to educate these responders and point them in the right direction to protect themselves.

The web site includes simple guides to radiation safety customized for the specific type of responder, the situations they are likely to encounter, and the tasks they’ll be called upon to perform. These can be downloaded, printed, and distributed free. There are also links to other sources of information and training, many of these free as well.

Site content will be provided by the emergency responders and other radiation safety professionals. “This is not my rant,” Darrin says. “It’s too important for that. Let these men and women speak for themselves. I’m just giving them a place to voice their opinions, to express their concerns, to educate themselves, and to share their knowledge with their fellow responders.”

Contributors include well-known radiological emergency response experts such as long-time radiological preparedness manager Martin Vonk, safety specialists from transportation worker and operating engineer unions, and hospitals and other employers of these potential responders. The site will be open to all related contributors and all appropriate content, and Darrin encourages users to voice their opinion and share their knowledge and experience.

John Darrin has worked in the nuclear industry for 36 years, initially as a radiation health and safety technician, and most recently as a consultant for companies focused on nuclear and radiological disasters and homeland security. He worked on such unique projects as the first commercial decommissioning of a radiological research laboratory, the decommissioning of several nuclear reactors, the recovery after the Three Mile Island accident, and even on the treatment of nuclear weapons waste in China.

Darrin and other contributors are attending the National Radiological Emergency Preparedness Conference (www.nationalrep.org) in Norfolk, VA April 20 – 24, and are available for comment.