Nuclear accidents and other public health hazards have at times eclipsed the more sinister contingencies the unit was first established to confront. The building is a dedicated counter-weapons of mass destruction research and development training center that supports the growing needs of the NNSA's Stabilization Program. February 24, 2017 National Nuclear Security Administration NNSA's Joint Technical Operations Team commemorates 20 years of mission readiness To mark the 20th anniversary of NNSA's Joint Technical Operations Team (JTOT) program, current and past leadership gathered this month at NNSA headquarters in Washington, D.C. U.S. Department of Energy ORDER Washington, D.C. DOE O 153 CTCP supports a broad range of U.S. Government planning efforts for nuclear and radiological contingencies. NEST actively participates in the annual interagency Nuclear Weapon Accident Incident Exercise (NUWAIX) that is designed to practice a whole-of-government response to nuclear accidents and incidents. The use of nuclear energy in space, for instance, has obvious advantages for powering long-duration missions but can present terrestrial dangers if things go awry. A 1996 review by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee concluded that NEST is clearly a national asset which could not be duplicated by other organizations because of the unique scientific capabilities and field operational experience of the nuclear weapons laboratories that directly support it with volunteers and R&D., An annual budget roughly equivalent to what the Pentagon spends on ballistic missile defense in a week. Hollywood has yet to depict a room full of health physicists earnestly comparing dose estimates, but scenes of NEST teams in pursuit of nuclear terrorists are not infrequent. NEST experts searched the company's offices with detection kits concealed in business-style briefcasesno explosive device was found. Departmental Nuclear Emergency Support Team Capabilities DOE The assets include: Since 1975, NEST has been warned of 125 nuclear terror threats and has responded to 30. Copyright 2023 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. This occurred not only on paper in the policies that prescribe response operations but also in practice during the joint exercises that simulate nuclear events. An unknown group called Omega mailed an extortion threat claiming they would explode containers of radioactive water all over the city unless they were paid $500,000 (equivalent to $2,571,000 in 2022). The joint US-Canadian operation, conducted from the air and on foot in merciless cold, lasted nine months. The AMS team consists of scientists, technicians, pilots, and ground support personnel. To perform these diverse missions an array of scientific disciplines was needed: spectroscopy, radiography, nuclear device assessment, atmospheric modeling, radiation dose assessment, and nuclear forensics, to name just a few. AMS teams perform aerial surveys prior to major events to establish a baseline measurement of natural background radiation. Stephen Musolino, a member of NESTs Radiological Assistance Program at Brookhaven, was one of the operations early targeteers, who identified locations on the Internet using their own intuition. JTOT personnel are closely involved in the execution of the Capability Forward initiative. Equipped with a heavy socket wrench, the airman was tasked to secure a nitrogen line to the missiles oxidizer tank. After evacuating the casino and surrounding buildings, the team detonated the charge by remote control. Like most NEST deployments, no such emergency occurred, and local residents were none the wiser about the preparations that had been made for a worst-case scenario. NNSAs Office of Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation (CTCP) is integral to the U.S. Governments layered defense against nuclear terrorism and nuclear proliferation. NEST provides scientific and technical expertise in support of federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners to enhance their ability to accomplish critical national security and public health and safety missions. PRND activities include the use of NESTs Aerial Measuring System (AMS), an aviation-based radiological survey capability. The office also leads technical and policy engagements with allied foreign governments to advance global nuclear threat reduction priorities. Facility opens for interagency counter-weapons of mass - LabNews After a nine-week search the bomb was declared irretrievably lost, and a subsequent Department of Energy analysis concluded that even if the weapon had survived intact, it was now resting 5 to 15 feet beneath the seabed and poses no current or future possibility of a nuclear explosion. Nonetheless, searchers periodically announce the bombs discovery, prompting fresh mobilizations of government search teams. The desperate search for a submersible that disappeared and imploded while taking five people to view the Titanic wreckage has drawn attention to other deep-sea rescues. Requests for radiological emergency response asset support should be made through the DOE Headquarters Operations Center (OC) at 202-586-8100. . But finding a nuclear weapon or illicit material within a large, undefined space is another kettle of fish. RAP teams maintain relationships with local and regional mission partners, including FBI WMD Coordinators in the U.S. cities that host Stabilization teams, which are trained and equipped to counter nuclear and radiological threat devices. Jeffrey Richelson, the author of a book about NESTs counter-weapons of mass destruction (WMD) mission, later observed, If a similar organization did not exist in the real world, Hollywood probably would have created one., If a similar organization did not exist in the real world, Hollywood probably would have created one. NARAC can rapidly deliver tools and expertise to map the spread of this material in the atmosphere, often providing the first scientifically defensible and actionable analysis that decisionmakers can use to protect the public in an emergency. NEST responders are the worlds premiere technical leaders on all aspects of radiological and nuclear emergency preparedness, search, and consequence management. Although not without its frustrations, this outcome proved that the system, ad hoc though it was, essentially worked. Accidents associated with the US nuclear weapons program transpired as early as the Manhattan Project. This specialized knowledge is used to influence an extraordinary range of U.S. and international nuclear counterterrorism and counterproliferation policies. Early the next morning the fuel exploded, hurling the 740-ton silo lid away and propelling the warhead into a ditch 100 feet from the silo. He might want to use one on me! Since its inception during the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979, NARAC has been instrumental in responding to nuclear incidents of enormous global consequence, including the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster, the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, and the non-nuclear1980 Titan missile explosion near Damascus, Arkansas. NNSAs nuclear forensics capabilities constitute an important element of the Nations strategy to deter nuclear terrorism. RAP personnel are often the first NNSA response team on the scene of a radiological emergency to assess the situation and recommend what steps to take to minimize the hazard. In its initial phase, the joint FBI-NEST search was a 24/7 operation involving inconspicuous search vehicles known as K-Vans. Its personnel are experts in atmospheric modeling, aerial measuring, health physics, and other scientific disciplines necessary to respond to nuclear incidents. Rapidly deployable team of interagency CBRN experts that focuses on contingency planning, facilitates interagency crisis management, assesses crisis management based on nuclear weapons/devices, and prioritizes response assets and capabilities. These missions often begin with aerial surveys conducted by NESTs Aerial Measuring System helicopters. More than 30 Broken Arrows occurred in the United States stockpile between the development of nuclear weapons in 1945 and the last such event in 1980. As part of this mission the office shares knowledge of nuclear and radiological threats with federal, state, local, and international partners by conducting training, exercises, and information exchanges. The offices understanding of nuclear threat devices is embedded in emergency response policies at the federal, state, and local levels, as well as the incident response postures of many foreign governments. NEST also performs a variety of public health and safety missions, providing technical guidance to federal, state, and local officials following nuclear incidents. In the interagency bloodletting that followed, a wide range of reforms was adopted. The boarders carried radiation detection equipment and other tools to locate a hidden nuclear device, but all the searches came up empty. Nonetheless, the US government has refined wide-area nuclear search capabilities for more than 50 years. The Radiation Emergency Assistance Center / Training Site (REAC/TS) is the Nations foremost center for medical advice on the management of radiation injuries, providing scientific expertise, specialized training, and onsite assistance for the treatment of radiation exposure accidents to medical professionals around the world. (NNSA via Gizmodo). There experts provide guidance on the optimal course of action to defeat the device, a term of art covering everything from defusing the weapon to blowing it apart with explosive charges. [2][4], One of NEST's first responses was in Spokane, Washington on November 23, 1976. NEST's nuclear forensics personnel can perform technical analysis to determine the origin of nuclear material found outside of regulatory control or used in a nuclear device. Its operational assets are used to locate and defeat terrorist nuclear devices and mitigate the effects of radiological incidents around the globe. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, for example, NARAC and the Federal Emergency Management Agencys Interagency Modeling and Atmospheric Assessment Center (IMAAC) provided airborne-hazard predictions for several major industrial fires and chemical facilities at risk. FRMAC is responsible for providing a single source of compiled, quality-controlled monitoring and assessment data to the lead federal agency involved in the incident response. The ribbon-cutting for the facility was hosted for the Nuclear Emergency Support Team, or NEST, last month. Your support of our work at any level is important. The Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC) is an interagency entity that coordinates federal radiological monitoring and assessment assistance to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments in response to nuclear accidents or incidents. (Photo by Franois LOCHON/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images), The command center of the National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center around the time it became operational after the Three Mile Island accident in March 1979. DFEAT is comprised of federal and national laboratory experts with highly specialized equipment and facilities to support the nuclear forensics mission. Encountering such a bomb in the United States had not yet been considered, but then the age of nuclear terrorism was then still in its infancy. Somewhat counterintuitively, there was no sigh of relief, Hoagland recalled. In some cases, analysis might be outsourced to experts in fields relevant to an investigation. As an umbrella entity, NEST would ultimately be responsible for responding to US nuclear weapon accidents, nuclear reactor emergencies, and other radiation contamination events. However far removed from reality these depictions may be, they appeal to societys expectation that it is not defenseless against nuclear-armed maniacs and that highly trained professionals do exist to stop them. The last Broken Arrow was perhaps the most harrowing. Other accidents would involve US nuclear weapons themselves. Their task is to be "prepared to respond immediately to any type of radiological accident or incident anywhere in the world". Although the facilities that house US nuclear weapons and materials are among the most elaborately guarded structures in the world, no system is infallible. Rechristened the Nuclear Emergency Support Team, NEST would be a central player in responding to a handful of nuclear scares that occurred in the years following Radiant Angel. This time the perpetrator demanded $30 million in return for not detonating a nuclear bomb hidden in New York City. Office of Nuclear Forensics serves as NNSAs lead coordinator for Technical Nuclear Forensics capabilities and policy. Matt Aronhalt - Principal Technologist- Nuclear Emergency Support Team Finally. (Jacqueline McBride / Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), Operation Morning Light. The device contained nearly 1,000 pounds of conventional explosives and a variety of triggering mechanisms that made it virtually undefeatable. The National Search Team (NST) is composed of scientists, engineers, and technical support personnel from the DOE National Laboratories. The office also directly supports the National Security Council in developing and implementing nuclear counterterrorism and nuclear counterproliferation policies and leads technical and policy exchanges concerning nuclear threat reduction with select international partners. Although terrorists are unlikely to steal or illicitly obtain a significant quantity of weapons-usable nuclear material, they could receive assistance from a hostile government. Additionally, NEST ensures that cutting-edge technology and scientific innovation are continuously incorporated into its operations. The Nuclear Emergency Support Team, a division of the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), is helping deploy sensors "throughout the region" that have the ability "to characterize the size, location and effects of any nuclear explosion," a spokesperson for the agency told the NYT. Flying in grid patterns at 150 feet above the host city, the aircraft take measurements of expected background radiation in the weeks prior to the event, capturing both naturally occurring radiation and sources such as medical isotopes in health care facilities. FEMA. CTCP supports a broad range of U.S. Government planning efforts for nuclear and radiological contingencies. Exercise planners work closely with partners to develop events such as the Silent Thunder Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Counterterrorism Tabletop Exercises. Additional international activities include workshops and training specifically designed to build foreign partners emergency preparedness capacity. It began near Damascus, Arkansas, on September 18, 1980, when an Air Force technician descended into a silo housing a Titan missile, atop which was a W-53 warhead with a yield of nine megatons. By providing dispassionate scientific advice during fearful events, NEST equips decision-makers with the knowledge to save lives and help the public recover quickly from crises.
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