Accident Response Team

The next band corresponds to accidents that directly impact the three safety functions and are not arrested or mitigated by the built-in safety systems, such as reactor trip. Proper application of Defence In Depth may still prevent releases to the environment. However, a trained nuclear accident response team would be dispatched from the central monitoring station. 

The upper, open-ended band represents low-probability severe reactor accidents with consequences beyond the facility boundary. It is not expected that any off-site evacuation of the public would be needed under any circumstances for small power reactors, however, minor releases of radioactivity within the specified regulatory limits may occur. The accident response team would secure the site, restore a safe, contained shutdown state, and perform any required cleanup. 

The Accident Response Team, formed and headed by the Director of Security, serves Monticello by offering prompt, consistent treatment to all visitors suffering accidents or medical problems at Monticello. The Team consists of six members on a seven-day rotation. At least two members of the team are available during all public hours. 

Most members of the Accident Response Team have had some prior experience in accident response by working with a rescue squad, volunteer fire department or hospital emergency room. In addition, each member receives training in First Aid. CPR. visitor communications and accident reporting, as well as a briefing on the Foundaiton s liability insurance coverage. 

Monticello employees are instructed to summon a member of the Accident Response Team when a visitor has an accident or a medical problem in their area. The Team Member offers comfort and First Aid (from one of Monticello s three First Aid stations) where appropriate decides whether to summon the Rescue Squad and obtains information about the circumstances of the mishap, including eyewitness accounts and names, addresses and telephone numbers of the eyewitnesses. 

Like any program that requires money and staff time, an accident response program will not function without commitment from top management and an ongoing, closely monitored program. Ideally, the director should circulate a memorandum to all staff on risk-reduction and -response measures as they are developed. The Monticello director s memorandum to the staff on the Accident Response Team is included as an example (Figure 3). 

We also received during the first day of the incident our Homeland Security PODS (truck boxes without wheels filled with badly needed incident supplies and equipment that stay with response teams for days at a time). The PODS were shipped in from Columbia, South Carolina, and were very impressive in the equipment and supplies they contained. During the first day, we held an orderly evacuation (The Sheriff s office directed the mandatory evacuation of those who has been sheltering-in-place within a mile radius of the accident scene, which amounted to as many of 5,400 persons. Some people had to wait eight days to return home, while others had as long as fourteen days). 

Healthcare providers, as well as local officials, are concerned about the spread of contamination. The procedure for decontamination of litter patients can be found in Appendix E of U.S. Army Field Manual 8-10-4, Medical Platoon Leaders Handbook Tactics, Techniques and Procedures.8 The IRF will decontaminate patients and pass them across a hotline to the Medical Response Team (MRT). At that point the casualty should be completely clean. Civilian officials may require a casualty certified clean before moving the patient off the military installation. This requirement may be avoided through adequate coordination and training prior to an exercise or an actual chemical accident or incident. Building confidence in the civilian sector through education and communication is essential in providing a rapid and adequate medical response. 

In China, the accident investigation team also includes the administrative officers of relevant departments. This operating mechanism may produce adverse effect on the scientificalness and impartiality of the investigation. In view of the interests of the departments, the administrative officers often concern more the belonging of the accident responsibilities, but pay less attention to... 

Russia-U.S. collaborative efforts to address safety issues associated with nuclear processes required for the disposition of excess weapons grade nuclear materials were initiated in response to the 1993 Tomsk-7 accident. A joint Russia-U.S. team evaluated the causes of an explosion in a nuclear fuel reprocessing tank at the Tomsk-7 reprocessing facility. The success of the joint Russia-U.S. Tomsk-7 accident assessment team resulted in a continuation of the collaborative efforts. Table 1 summarizes the major events comprising Russia-U.S. joint efforts to address common safety concerns relating to the disposition of excess weapons grade nuclear material. 

The ability to detect and respond to accidents/incidents, such as employee rounds and emergency response team availability... 

Should a major accident occur in Norwegian waters or onshore, the PSA mobilizes its Emergency Response Team, not least in part to be able to inform the central government and the public about the position. The PSA Web site will also change to bring the latest news about an accident. 

Accident response for HCF activities is addressed In the TA-V Emergency Plan. In the event of an accident, all personnel evacuate to the Emergency Assembly Point, the Emergency Control Room, or the Emergency Response Team assembly area, depending on their assignments. 

Autonomous reactor operation requires that the reactor is in the normal operating state and that the transition to an accident which may lead to a potential release to the environment is sufficiently long for the response team to arrive and take appropriate action. In essence, the presence or absence of staff at the site should have no bearing on the progression of any foreseeable event for an extended period exceeding the authorized period of autonomous operation. 

Work with Emergency Response Teams organizing, training, and coordinating skilled employees to react to emergencies such as fires, accidents, or other disasters. 

The demand for safety led the SNCF to create an operational service, the Presence FrSt, in 1993, whose two aims were to constantly follow the movement of rail cars loaded with hazardous merchandise and to provide useful information to the response team at the time of accidents or incidents involving hazardous materials. The service is located in Dijon, a central point of national hazardous material traffic, and consists of about 20 people linked to the central SNCF computers and computerized software dealing with hazardous products. Events are classified into three levels, corresponding to the seriousness of the events incident (small leak, seepage, drop by drop), accident (smoke, odor, shock, derailing), and serious accident (accident made worse by fire, explosion, serious derailing, pollution, or victims). 

The emergency response team arrived at the scene six and a half hours after the accident occurred. A smell of chlorine was detected immediately on arrival at site, but the team was... 

When the fire died down, the response team attempted to patch the hole with a Proctor patch and to empty the car of its chlorine contents. When pressure was applied, the patch did not hold. The tank car was finally repaired three and a half days after the accident. Technical personnel from Canadian Industries Limited vacuumed out the chlorine as opposed to pressurizing the tank car. The liquid was removed to a tank truck and then to a tank car and the chlorine vapor was neutralized with caustic soda. 

Report all accidents involving chemicals to the supervisor immediately. Do not attempt to clean up a chemical spill without first alerting the company s chemical response team. 

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