Operational Guidelines for Review and Comment

The Preliminary Report on Operational Guidelines Developed for Use in Emergency Preparedness and Response to a Radiological Dispersal Device Incident (February 2009;DOE/HS-0001;ANL/EVS/TM/09-1) presents preliminary operational guidelines and supporting work products developed through the interagency Operational Guidelines Task Group (OGT). These operational guidelines were developed in concert with and are intended to support implementation of protective action guides (PAGs) for Radiological Dispersal Devices (RDDs) defined in Planning Guidance for Protection and Recovery Following Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD) and Improvised Nuclear Device (IND) Incidents (73 FR 149).

This report consolidates preliminary operational guidelines and descriptions of their derivation, all ancillary work products, and a companion software tool (RESRAD-RDD) that facilitates their implementation into one reference source document. It is intended for use and comment by Federal agencies, State and local governments, and emergency planning and response subject matter experts regarding emergency preparedness planning and response initiatives for an RDD incident. The report principally focuses on the technical derivation and presentation of the operational guidelines with some accompanying general end-user guidance. The guidelines and guidance presented in this report can be used in trial applications during controlled practice exercises simulating emergency planning and response to an RDD. They are appropriate for use in developing preliminary event-specific operational guidelines and guidance. The report and operational guidelines are preliminary and do not represent the official policy, methods or guidance of the agencies that participated in the OGT.

The preliminary operational guidelines are categorized into seven groups on the basis of their intended application within early, intermediate, and long-term recovery phases of emergency response. We anticipate that these operational guidelines will be updated and refined by interested government agencies in response to comments and lessons learned from their review, consideration, and trial application. This review, comment, and trial application process will facilitate the development of more detailed end-user guidance and the selection of a final set of operational guidelines that may be more or less inclusive of the preliminary operational guidelines presented in this report. These and updated versions of the operational guidelines and associated guidance will be made available through the Department of Energy's OGT public Web site (http://ogcms.energy.gov/) as they become finalized for public distribution, use, and comment.

Comments in the form of recommendations, pertinent data, and lessons learned that may improve the methods employed for deriving operational guidelines, the resulting preliminary operational guidelines and general end-user guidance presented in this report, and the companion software tool should be sent by  September 30, 2009,  to:

Mr. Stephen L. Domotor
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Health, Safety and Security
Office of Nuclear Safety, Quality Assurance and Environment
Office of Nuclear Safety Policy and Assistance
1000 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, DC 20585-0019
stephen.domotor@hq.doe.gov

Click here to download a copy of the preliminary report and/or the RESRAD-RDD assistance tool.