Oak Ridge Associated Universities 2006 Annual Report

REAC/TS Expands International Presence as Global Trainer for Radiation
Emergency Management and Preparedness
As one of only two World Health Organization
(WHO) Collaborating Centers in the U.S., and one
of only 13 centers worldwide that comprise WHO’s
Radiation Emergency Medical Preparedness and
Assistance Network, ORISE’s Radiation Emergency
Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS) expanded
its international training programs in FY06.
REAC/TS sent a three-man team to Seoul, Korea,
this August for a five-day radiation training course,
instructing approximately 50 people at the Korea
Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences.
REAC/TS Director Albert Wiley, M.D., Ph.D.,
Health Physics Team Leader Steve Sugarman, and
Nurse/Paramedic Rob Beauchamp coached the group
in emergency preparedness and medical response to
radiation incidents. Attendees were primarily medical
responders who work near the area’s 18 nuclear
power plants.
The training course was a result of a nuclear energy
cooperation agreement between the U.S. State
Department and the Korean government. Following
Wiley’s presentations at joint meetings in Washington,
D.C., and at the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, the
Korean government requested the U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE) and REAC/TS to provide medical
radiological emergency training around Korea’s nuclear
reactor sites. Since the August training course, Korea
has requested another training session to be conducted
in spring 2007. Also, after observing the Seoul training
course, representatives from the Chinese government
requested DOE and REAC/TS to provide a similar
course to be offered in Beijing in January 2007.
In other international activity, REAC/TS personnel
presented a tabletop exercise in conjunction with
WHO’s meeting to mark the 20th anniversary of the
Chernobyl accident. Wiley and Sugarman attended the
three-day conference in Kiev, Ukraine, in April. The
tabletop exercise consisted of a computer-generated
scenario designed to emphasize communications and
compare the standards of different countries when they
respond to a radiation medical emergency.
“The exercise allowed us to see what’s in each other’s
capabilities and radiological emergency plans,”
said Wiley. “Everyone was able to learn from what
each group did best, as well as from where mistakes
were made.”
Other international REAC/TS activities this past year
included deployment to the U.S. Embassy in Caracas,
Venezuela, to assist in the medical management of a
radiological incident and Wiley’s participation in an
International Atomic Energy Agency Radiological
Emergency Response Committee, which met in Buenos
Aires, Argentina, and Milan, Italy.
Image Information:
REAC/TS Nurse/Paramedic Beauchamp coaches a group of
medical professionals in emergency preparedness and medical
response to radiation at the Korea Institute of Radiological and
Medical Sciences in Seoul. Course participants were primarily
medical responders who work near the area’s 18 nuclear
power plants.
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