The Emergency Systems Group

Evaluation work has included assessing the evacuation transportation components of preparedness and response systems at more than 500 emergency exercises and more than 300 state and local emergency response plans.

Research work has included developing nationally distributed guidance for hazardous materials accidents for railyards and their adjacent communities, and development of a highway hazardous materials flow survey guidebook. In addition, ANL has used state of the art computer analyses to refine the initial isolation distances and protective action zones for hazardous materials and radiological transportation accidents for the last two editions of the federal guidance sent to all fire and police departments an other hazardous materials responder organizaitons nationwide. This guidance is also now being distributed in Mexico and Canada.

Training Work

Training work has included developing and conducting workshops on assessing hazardous materials transportation accidents as well as training on the use of evacuation models in emergency planning. The Group has also coordinated with the Argonne Fire Department responders in conducting several additional workshops for many American Indian Nations on emergency planning and response for hazardous materials and radiological transportation accidents on reservation lands. In addition, the group has for more than a decade been conducting related emergency preparedness evaluation training with evacuation components.

Department of Transportation Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG)

The Emergency Response Guidebook is developed by the U. S. Department of Transportation for use by firefighters, police, and other emergency services personnel who may be the first to arrive at the scene of a transportation incident involving a hazardous material. ANL prepares the predictions of initial isolation zones and protective action distances (safe distances) for over 200 chemicals that are toxic by inhalation. This involves the use of state-of-the art models for source terms, atmospheric dispersion, and human health impacts using a probabalistic approach. ANL is supported by a panel of expert toxicologists in the identification of human health limits that are appropriate for the accidents and durations of exposures caused by likely transportation accidents. In addition to the ERG work, ANL is carrying out a national hazardous materials transportation risk assessment for DOT.