Year
2024
Abstract
| ABSTRACT:Background: There is a pressing need to increase awareness and preparedness to secure radioactive sources in times of civil unrest and war. In such times, radioactive sources have many vulnerabilities. Radioactive sources can be extremely dangerous sources of radiation injury and radioactive contamination if not handled correctly. They can also be used as weapons, such as radio-dispersive devices (RDD) and/or radio-explosive devices (RED), publicly known as dirty bombs.Standard security measures for radioactive sources are already complex and require a lot of preparation, training, and education in stable environments, so they get much more complicated and chaotic in times of civil unrest or war. This work aims to develop a hypothetical exercise that underlines the importance of preparedness for securing radioactive sources during civil unrest or wartime.Methods: hypothetical data was used to describe radioactive sources in a hypothetical country suffering from civil unrest, and trainees were requested to participate in contingency plans where standard safety and security measures are failed or inoperable as planned or as expected.Results: This hypothetical exercise serves as a training tool to be used by Educators for nuclear security education which challenges trainees on what the measures to secure radioactive sources when the standard contingency plans are not operable, through a series of questions and possible interventions, and end up with lessons from previous events and bet =practices in such context.Conclusion: a tool developed and in hand for Nuclear security educators to support for a good introduction for trainees on nuclear security of radioactive sources during civil unrest. |