Homeland Security – What Steps Are Being Taken by States to Prepare for a Radiological Terrorist Incident?

D. McBaugh (Washington State Dept. of Health and CRCPD)

Much work has been done by states and local public health agencies to prepare for responding to Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD) incidents. Much work is still needed. One group that is helping is the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD), an organization made up of the radiation control programs of the fifty states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. This presentation will cover ongoing work by the CRCPD Homeland Security Council and several of its working groups. Task forces have been set up to cover many aspects of homeland security including: collecting RDD scenarios from states and federal agencies to place on a secure website for use by all states; developing a handbook containing guidance for responding to an RDD; developing a flow chart that includes generic problems/tasks and contact information for agencies and other states that can assist; and preparing pre-determined protective action recommendations for use immediately after an RDD or an improvised nuclear device incident. CRCPD is also assessing the newly developed DHS response and recovery guidance document for radiological terrorist events. As part of this work, a task force has been set up to review and test the Operational Guidelines being developed to help implement the guidance.

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