Readily Available Equipment for Response and Recovery Webinar

About the Webinar

Originally presented May 12, 2021

Watch the Webinar

Cleanup resources will be extremely stretched after a large-scale radiological incident, such as the detonation of an improvised nuclear device, a release of a radiological dispersal device, or a nuclear power plant accident. Local, state, federal, and tribal agencies performing response and recovery efforts may need to find innovative approaches for their response and recovery efforts. This webinar will discuss how responders can use municipal and commercial equipment to compress the recovery timeline and support specific goals associated with radiological response and remediation, including reducing the radiation dose burden to response personnel.

Argonne National Laboratory, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Environmental Protection Agency are developing a radiological recovery logistics tool (RRLT) to assist response agencies. This tool contains a database of common and specialty equipment available at local public works departments or commercial vendors that can be used to recover from an urban radiological release event. Through an intelligent software wizard, the RRLT helps the user understand what types of equipment might be available to accomplish general and specific recovery mission activities based on environmental and operational constraints. The purpose of the RRLT is to increase the resilience of urban communities by expediting response and recovery operations.

Potential uses of the RRLT include: tabletop exercises, pre-incident resource planning, and by a Planning Section of an Incident Command Structure post-incident. While geared towards radiological incidents, the RRLT could be adapted for biological and chemical incidents.

About the Speakers

Matthew Magnuson is a Research Chemist for EPA’s Homeland Security Research Program/Center for Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response, and has been with EPA in Cincinnati, Ohio, since 1996. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1994 from the University of Oklahoma (Norman), and is author of over 50 peer reviewed publications in areas including homeland security, analytical chemistry, environmental chemistry, and forensic analysis. He is currently involved in homeland security programs related to analysis and environmental fate of chemical, biological, and radiological (CBR) contaminants. A major focus of his work is management and treatment of large volumes of CBR contaminated water and wastewater. Collaborations include U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and National Institutes of Justice.

Michael Kaminski is a Senior Nuclear Chemical Engineer in the Strategic Security Sciences Division at Argonne National Laboratory and Adjunct Associate Professor in Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering at the University of Illinois where he received his Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering. Over the years, he has evaluated and developed technologies for the decontamination of nuclear facilities and urban centers following a radionuclide release. These include evaluating and testing chemical decontamination technologies for removal of actinide and fission product contaminations from steels; developing a novel gel-based decontamination agent for removal of radioactive isotopes from porous building materials; working with the U.S. military to design interrogation and decontamination methods for radioactively contaminated military vehicles and equipment; and developing a wide-area (city-wide) decontamination system based on common reagents and sequestering materials available world-wide. In total, he has 70 published journal articles, 47 reports, >140 presentations, 29 inventions, and 10 patents garnering over 2100 citations in niche areas of study.