A COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL NETWORK FOR HANDLING EMERGENCIES INVOLVING RADIOACTIVE SHIPMENTS

A comprehensive Transport Emergency Management System (TEMS) has been evolved in India for handling emergencies involving radioactive shipments. The vital elements of the TEMS are (1) a comprehensive emergency response action plan manual (2) Network of Emergency Response Facilities (ERF) situated in various parts of India (3) a Centralized Emergency Communication Room (ECR) and (4) TREMCARD accompanying the shipment. It is mandatory that the transport documents for each radioactive consignment include a TRansport Emergency CARD (TREMCARD). It prescribes the immediate countermeasures and provides contact details of the consignor and of the ECR established by the National Emergency Response Agency (NERA). The ECR operator requests the response laboratory nearest to the accident site to despatch the response team to the site. The physical distribution of these laboratories is such that should a transport emergency occur anywhere, response personnel from the nearest laboratory would be able to reach the affected site within 6 hours. This paper makes an effort aimed at optimisation of resources and recommends a graded approach, on the basis of estimated collective dose following an accident, to the establishment of a comprehensive national network for emergency response.