Specific Aspects of Exercises for Response to Emergencies Arising from Malicious Acts - Exercise Scenarios

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Specific Aspects of Exercises for Response to
Emergencies Arising from Malicious Acts -
Exercise Scenarios
IAEA Training in Emergency Preparedness and
Response
Module L-058
Lecture
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Introduction

• Malicious acts are not bound by the laws of
  probability
• Many possible scenarios
• This lecture contains some
• Treat with care

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Contents

• Categories of malicious acts
• Scenarios for each category

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Categories of Malicious Acts

• 1) Threat to commit a malicious act involving the
  use of radioactive materials
• 2) Deliberate act to irradiate persons
• 3) Deliberate act to contaminate food or water
  supplies with radioactive materials
• 4) Explosive radiation dispersal device (RDD)
• 5) Deliberate act to contaminate a site or the
  environment with radioactive materials
• 6) Sabotage attack upon a nuclear facility aimed
  at causing an uncontrolled release of radioactive
  materials

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Threat - Example

• Regulatory authority receive a fax saying that
  there will be an attack on a major nuclear
  facility within the next 5 days
• No details provided on
• Nature of the attack
• Facility
• The fax says that this attack against the
  "establishment" will demonstrate its weakness and
  moral ineptitude

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Threat Example (1)

• When contacted, a nuclear research facility (or
  other) and a nuclear power plant independently
  report that people posing as journalists have
  been roaming around over three days one week ago
• Army base (far from the facility) reports the
  theft of a large quantity of explosives

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Threat - Challenges

• There is NO impact yet
• Need to determine seriousness of the threat
• Need to consider pre-emptive threat reduction
  measures
• Medical could be the trigger
• Media to inform or not to inform?
• That is the question

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Threat - Exercise Notes

• Two-phase exercise
• Search and assessment
• Threat-reduction measures
• Good for tabletop
• Good for field exercise with all authorities
  involved

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Deliberate Irradiation - Example

• Police receive call from an unknown person
• There are powerful radioactive sources located in
  a very busy shopping mall
• Exact location provided
• Other sources located throughout the city

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Deliberate Irradiation - Challenges

• Acute effects are likely
• Many, many people affected
• Need to identify exposed persons
• Media news will create panic and fear
• Will affect public behaviour
• Economic impact
• Medical infrastructure will be overwhelmed

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Deliberate Irradiation - Exercise Notes

• This scenario calls for many actions in many
  different areas
• Difficult to simulate large number of exposed
  persons
• Easy scenario to develop, complex to run
• Suggested as
• Workshop
• Tabletop
• Field exercise

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Deliberate Contamination of Water/Food - Example

• Truck with low to medium level waste stolen
• Truck found abandoned two days later next to
  water treatment plant
• Insider job barrels emptied in main treatment
  basin
• No radiation detectors
• Water has been distributed
  for several hours

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Deliberate Contamination of Water/Food -
Challenges

• Contamination level likely very low
• No significant health hazard
• Public perception and fear will be the main issue
• Ensuring that other locations have not also been
  targeted
• Potentially large burden on medical
  infrastructure
• How to reassure the public?
• Replacement water?

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Deliberate Contamination of Water/Food - Exercise
Notes

• Scenario best suited for tabletop
• Good exercise for slow time analysis and
  cooperation between technical organizations and
  local/regional political authorities
• Health hazard analysis will be a large component
• Use local parameters for water distribution data

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Explosive RDD - Example

• Massive explosion downtown at a major city
• Explosion appeared to originate from the sewer
  system
• Gas leak suspected

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Explosive RDD - Example

• In fact, it is a powerful explosive device placed
  in the sewer
• Explosion damages several cars
• No death, but several serious injuries
• First responders arrive at the scene and realize
• There is no fire
• It is not a gas leak
• Electronic dosimeter alarms go off

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Example of Field Readings
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Explosive RDD - Challenges

• Same as category IV emergencies with
  complications
• Security and protection
• Crime-of-scene procedures
• Identification of potentially exposed persons
• Secondary threat
• Large number of responders
• Law-enforcement in charge
• Possible mass casualties

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Explosive RDD - Exercise Notes

• Best suited for field exercises or drills
• First responders must have means of detecting
  radiation, otherwise this exercise will not work
• Easy to adjust degree of complexity
• More victims
• Larger explosion
• Nature of radioactive material
• Secondary threat

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Deliberate Contamination - Example

• Transport truck trigger gate monitor at smelter
• Contamination found on wheels
• Survey team dispatched to retrace route

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Deliberate Contamination - Example

• Large radium spill in busiest part of the
  financial district

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Example of Field Data
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Deliberate Contamination - Challenges

• In this case, probably no acute health impacts
• Tracking potentially contaminated people
• What do you tell the public?
• Possible fear and panic
• Economic consequences
• Possible overload of medical system

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Deliberate Contamination Exercise Notes

• Best for field exercises and drills
• Also good for tabletops
• Easy to develop and conduct
• Very effective exercise

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Sabotage AgainstNuclear Facility

• Managing the off-site consequences is same as
  emergency consequences
• Once the sabotage has occurred, response is
  essentially same as for emergencies
• Existing plans and procedures should be adequate
• This type of scenario allows more flexibility
  than traditional emergencies in terms of the
  number and type of equipment failures

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Sabotage

• Most of the differences will be on-site
• Security
• Personnel protection
• Explosive ordinance disposal
• Force protection
• Operational considerations
• Involvement of off-site organizations in on-site
  management

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Sabotage

• Most differences will be when the malicious act
  is in progress
• What to do with the reactor?
• Decision-making coordination between operators,
  regulator, off-site security organizations and
  local authorities
• No decision can be taken in isolation
• Should protective actions be implemented?
• Exercise these aspects in exercises for response
  to emergencies arising from malicious acts for
  sabotage

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Sabotage - Example

• Bomb threat against nuclear power station
• Security verify physical protection systems and
  find failure of the fence motion detector on
  water side
• Hole in the fence
• Tow pleasure crafts seen approaching the plant
  earlier
• One is still there
• Explosive traces in boat

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Sabotage - Example

• Bomb search
• Intruder may still be present
• One explosive device found on hydrogen cooling
  system of main generator
• Trigger mechanism may be change in vibration level

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Sabotage - Challenges

• Reactor shut down or not?
• Change in turbine speed may trigger explosion
• Is intruder still present? If so, what to do
  with station staff?
• What to tell the off-site authorities?
• Recommend off-site protective actions or not?
• Media
• On-site coordination with off-site
  law-enforcement agencies

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Sabotage - Exercise Notes

• Good scenario for either tabletop or field
  exercise
• Focuses on on-site and interface with off-site
• If release occurs, this is same as traditional
  exercise
• Therefore, most interesting before actual failure

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Summary

• Six categories of malicious acts
• Many scenarios can be developed for each
• Scenarios focus on different aspects of response
  management
• Multi-agency involvement is key to any exercise
  for response to emergencies arising from
  malicious acts