Nuclear Emergency Support Team
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST) (formerly known as the Nuclear Emergency Search Team) is a team of scientists, technicians, and engineers operating under the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Their task is to be "prepared to respond immediately to any type of radiological accident or incident anywhere in the world". [1]
Contents |
[edit] History
Concerns over scenarios involving nuclear accidents or incidents on American soil are not recent; as early as the 1960s, officials were concerned that a nuclear weapon might be smuggled into the country, or that a nuclear-weapon equipped airplane might crash and contaminate surrounding areas. [2] In late 1974, President Gerald R. Ford was warned that the FBI received a communication from an extortionist wanting $200,000. It was claimed that a nuclear weapon had been placed somewhere in Boston and so a team of experts rushed in with scientists from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Unfortunately their radiation detection gear arrived at a different airport; federal officials then rented a fleet of vans to carry concealed radiation detectors around the city, but forgot to bring the tools they needed to install the equipment. As one of the researcher commented, "if they were counting on us to save the good folk of Boston...well it was bye-bye Boston."
Thankfully the incident was a hoax. However, the government's fumbling response made clear the need for an agency capable of effectively responding to such threats in the future. President Gerald R. Ford formed the Nuclear Emergency Support Team (N.E.S.T.), which by the Atomic Energy Act is tasked with investigating the "illegal use of nuclear materials within the United States, including terrorist threats involving the use of special nuclear materials" [3], later that year to provide technical support and assistance to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), .
[edit] Capabilities
According to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, NEST has the ability to deploy as many as 600 people to the scene of a radiological incident, though deployments do not usually exceed 45 people. NEST has a wide variety of equipment (weighing up to 150 tons), and has the support of a small fleet of aircraft which includes four helicopters and three airplanes, all specially outfitted with detection equipment.
[edit] Practical problems
Since 1975, NEST has been warned of 125 nuclear terror threats and has responded to 30. All have been false alarms. Although NEST errs on the side of caution, even if the authorities learned of a nuclear bomb in a city they would need to know which building it was located in to have a reasonable chance of finding it. Despite advanced equipment, NEST too often picks up naturally occurring background radiation, including everything from Fiestaware dinner plates and freshly paved roads to polished granite. More sensitive equipment would only pick up even more obscure objects.
Attempts to build rings around cities to detect nuclear material in Washington D.C. and New York City ports were each cancelled because of the number of false positives. Even a man treated for Graves disease with radioactive iodine set off alarms in the New York City subway. After being strip-searched and interrogated he was sent on his way.
NEST researchers are also aware that terrorists could conceal a nuclear device within a container lined with lead to shield detectable radiation emissions. The odds are stacked against the NEST finding a nuclear device.
[edit] Sources
Allison Graham, Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe. New York: Times Books, 2004.
