Last month, NNSA opened its new Radiological Assistance Program Regional Operations Center on Kirtland Air Force Base.
The center comprises an office building and a centralized depot that consolidates equipment, maintenance, procurement and other functions across 12 DOE national labs, plants and sites that host deployable RAP teams, along with some used by the national Nuclear Search Program.
The office building houses personnel from RAP Region 4 (southwestern states) and NNSA RAP leadership based at the Albuquerque headquarters site. In Region 4, which includes Sandia, Los Alamos, Pantex Plant, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and regional NNSA and DOE federal personnel, 21 Sandians serve as volunteers out of 68 experts who can deploy immediately on RAP teams of eight or more responders.“This new Regional Operations Center gives RAP capabilities that we’ve never had before and enables the calibration and standardization of equipment and software,” RAP program manager Kent Gray said.
Marc Phipps, RAP 4 regional program manager called the center a “hub for continuous learning and preparedness,” and added, “It elevates our ability to train and equip emergency response personnel, ensuring a robust and agile regional response to radiological incidents.”
The center also houses the second surge pallet that RAP teams can use when responding to provide security for national events such as the Super Bowl, and to emergencies. The other pallet is at Nellis Air Force Base northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada.
RAP, which formed in 1958, is the nation’s premier first responder organization for assessing hazards and incidents that involve radioactive materials. RAP advises federal, state, local, and tribal public safety officials, first responders and law enforcement personnel on protecting public health and safety or the environment during radiological incidents. It is part of the Nuclear Emergency Search Team, or NEST, NNSA’s umbrella organization for radiological and nuclear emergency response functions.
NNSA published a comprehensive article about the new center here.