Standard Practice for Radiological and Nuclear Emergency Response

Available format(s)

Hardcopy , PDF

Language(s)

English

Published date

30-11-2023

Publisher

American Society for Testing and Materials

1.1This practice provides decision-making considerations for response to both accidental and intentional incidents that involve radioactive material. It provides information and guidance for what to include in response planning and what activities to conduct during a response. It also encompasses the practices to respond to any situation complicated by radiation in conjunction with the associated guidance for the specific type of incident.

1.1.1The intended audience for the standard includes planners as well as emergency responders, incident commanders, and other emergency workers who should be protected from radiation.

1.1.2The scope of this practice applies to all types of radiological emergencies. While it does not fully consider response to an NPP accident,3 an explosive RDD, or nuclear detonation, detailed guidance to respond to such incidents is provided in other documents, such as those cited in the introduction. With respect to the guidance documents, this practice provides the general principles that apply to the broad range of incidents and associated planning goals but relies on the AHJ to apply and tailor their response planning based on those documents as well as the limitation of the personnel and equipment resources in the jurisdiction. In addition, the AHJ should use those documents to identify improvements to planning and resources to be better prepared for the more complex emergencies.

1.1.3This practice does not expressly address emergency response to contamination of food or water supplies.

1.1.4The Emergency Response Guide (ERG) published by the Department of Transportation provides valuable information for response to traffic accidents involving radioactive materials. For other radiological or nuclear incidents, however, the ERG may not provide adequate information on appropriate protective measures and should not be the sole resource used.

1.2This practice applies to those emergency response agencies that have a role in the response to an accidental or intentional radiological or nuclear incident. It should be used by emergency response organizations such as law enforcement, fire service, emergency medical services, and emergency management.

1.3This practice assumes that implementation begins with the recognition of a radiological or nuclear incident and ends when emergency response actions cease or the response is supported by specialized regional, state, or federal response assets.

1.4AHJs using this practice should identify hazards, develop a plan, acquire and track equipment, and provide training consistent with the descriptions provided in Section 6.

1.5While response to radiological hazards is the focus of this practice, responders must consider all hazards during a response; it is possible that non-radiological hazards may present a greater danger at an incident, particularly in incidents with wide area dispersion.

1.5.1This practice does not fully address assessing the risks from airborne radioactivity. Equipment to determine this potential hazard is not widely available in emergency responder communities. Like other responses to unknown hazards, respiratory protection commonly used by responders is required until a complete hazard identification assessment is complete.

1.6This practice is divided into the following sections:

Section	Title
1	Scope
2	Referenced Documents
3	Terminology
4	Summary of Practice
5	Significance and Use
6	Prerequisites for Radiological or Nuclear Emergency Response
7	Nuclear Detonation Response
8	Radiological Emergency Response
Appendix X1	Operational Guidance for Responding to Radiological or Nuclear Incidents, or both, and Emergencies
Appendix X2	Summary of Blast and Radiation Zones Following a Nuclear Detonation
Appendix X3	Practicing ALARA Using Time, Distance, and Shielding: Determining Radiological Dose
Appendix X4	Radiological Emergency Response Guidelines
Appendix X5	Emergency Response Checklist for Radiological Incidents
Appendix X6	Radiation Detection Instruments
Appendix X7	Example Radiation Safety Procedures
Appendix X8	Sample Radiation Safety Procedures
Appendix X9	Training Resources
Appendix X10	Radiation Units, Conversions, and Abbreviations
N/A	References
N/A	Bibliography

1.7The values stated in inch-pound units are to be regarded as standard. The values given in parentheses are mathematical conversions to SI units that are provided for information only and are not considered standard.

1.8This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety, health, and environmental practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.

1.9This international standard was developed in accordance with internationally recognized principles on standardization established in the Decision on Principles for the Development of International Standards, Guides and Recommendations issued by the World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee.

Committee	E 54
DocumentType	Standard Practice
Pages	48
PublisherName	American Society for Testing and Materials
Status	Current
Supersedes	ASTM E 2601 : 2015

ASTM E 2770 : 2017	Standard Guide for Operational Guidelines for Initial Response to Suspected Biological Agents and Toxins
ASTM E 2771 : 2011 : R2019	Standard Terminology for Homeland Security Applications