Radiological Preparedness in the Land of Lincoln

The paper will provide a brief overview of past preparedness efforts in Illinois with special emphasis on the Chicago urban area for an improvised nuclear device (IND) event, current status, and near- and long-term plans to address this daunting challenge. The planning assumption involved the detonation of a 10 kT IND in downtown Chicago at noon on a workday. Major efforts began in 2010 involving over 300 federal, state, and local public and private entities. The planning efforts included three summits and 16 workshops that produced essential response planning documents. Many capability gaps were identified during the planning process, and all essential major tasks were identified. Task sequencing, interdependencies of the task sequencing, time-phased task sequencing, and resource constrained time-phased task sequencing were reviewed in detail by the various working groups, and a draft integrated response plan and associated appendices were prepared. A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region V integrated IND Senior Leaders Tabletop Exercise involving six major tasks of the draft plan was conducted on 5 December 2013. Although all six tasks were performed "with some challenges," much more preparedness work is still needed. Future preparedness efforts regarding INDs and radiological dispersal devices (RDDs) will be described. One of the major capability deficiencies noted during the planning process is the lack of adequate technical resources necessary to provide assistance and support for response, recovery, and population monitoring. This paper will highlight two of the ongoing national efforts to address this deficiency. Specifically, these programs are: (1) Radiological Operations Support Specialist (ROSS) initiative, which is a collaboration of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's FEMA, U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors, Inc. (CRCPD); and (2) the Radiation Response Volunteer Corps Program of the CRCPD and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ultimately, these efforts will aid in providing the requisite resources in a manner consistent with the existing Emergency Management Assistance Compact currently in place for all hazards.