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Home > About Us > Our Programs > Emergency Response > Planning for Emergencies > Planning

Planning

NNSA ensures that capabilities are in place to respond to any NNSA and Department of Energy facility emergency. It is also the nation's premier responder to any nuclear or radiological incident within the United States or abroad and provides operational planning and training to counter both domestic and international nuclear terrorism.

Planning involves determining, in advance, what will be done in response to specific emergencies.

What is an Emergency?
An emergency is any unwanted operational, civil, natural phenomenon, or security occurrence that could endanger or adversely affect the health and safety of workers, the public, and/or the environment.

What is All Hazards Emergency Planning?
All Hazards Emergency Planning at NNSA address the spectrum of significant emergency events or conditions which could adversely affect its facilities, activities, and/or interests.

What is the Emergency Management Philosophy?
Impacts associated with facility and activity-specific hazards need to be understood and design emergency management programs accordingly.  The last line of defense is to examine low-probability, high-consequence events and prompt recognition with commensurate response by using prompt recognition tools and pre-planned initial decisions.

NNSA and Department of Energy facilities, sites, and/or activities emergency management programs are developed based on a comprehensive understanding of the specific hazards that are identified through the hazards surveys, screening, and assessments processes.  The results of the examination and analysis of hazards in these processes become the technical planning basis for the emergency management program.

Using the knowledge and insights gained through the hazards surveys, screening, and assessments processes, NNSA develops detailed plans and procedures and train their emergency management and response staff to carry out response actions, in particular, to reduce the severity of hazardous material release events and to minimize health impacts.

What are the Emergency Management Responsibilities?
The Emergency Management Responsibilities at NNSA headquarters (HQ) is to support the implementation of federal emergency plans.  NNSA and Department of Energy (DOE) off site link sites have the responsibility to do the following:

  •     Protect the workers and the public;
  •     Take mitigative actions;
  •     Implement protective actions onsite;
  •     Notify DOE/NNSA HQ and state and local organizations;
  •     Recommend protective actions offsite;
  •     Maintain communications with DOE/NNSA HQ and offsite response organizations; and
  •     Coordinate public information efforts in a Joint Information Center.


What are NNSA Emergency Management Program Elements (15 Elements)?
TECHNICAL PLANNING BASIS

  •     Hazards Survey/Hazards Assessment


PROGRAMMATIC ("ongoing" activities)

  •     Program Administration
  •     Training and Drills
  •     Exercises
  •     Readiness Assurance


RESPONSE ("standby" activities)

  •     Emergency Response Organization (ERO)
  •     Offsite Response Interfaces
  •     Emergency Facilities and Equipment
  •     Categorization and Classification
  •     Communication and Notification
  •     Consequence Assessment
  •     Protective Actions and Reentry
  •     Emergency Medical Support
  •     Emergency Public Information
  •     Termination and Recovery