Understanding national capacity and capability in Emergency Preparedness and Response

Understanding national capacity and capability in Emergency Preparedness and Response

Presented by:  Scott Muston, ARPANSA

Scott has worked for ARPANSA in various roles over the past 15 years covering all aspects of EPR and performing key roles in the development of national plans and arrangements, the coordination of emergency response teams and provision of advice during an emergency.  He currently holds the position of Assistant Director of Emergency Response at ARPANSA, and coordinates the EPR Strategic Group at ARPANSA. 

Scott is involved in a range of domestic committees including the Visiting Ships Panel (Nuclear) which oversees the visits to Australia by nuclear powered warships.  Internationally, he represents Australia as the Competent Authority under the Early Notification and Assistance Conventions and was the alternate representative to the IAEA Emergency Preparedness and Response Standards Committee (EPReSC) from 2018-2020.

He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Applied Physics and Master of Applied Science in Geospatial Information from RMIT University. 

Career highlights to date were performing the roles of Joint Assistance Team (JAT) Mission Leader for the RANET exercise conducted in Fukushima in 2017 and Deputy Team Leader for the IAEA Emergency Preparedness Review (EPREV) Mission to Canada in 2019. 

ABSTRACT

The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) has a defined advisory role in national planning (including in the Department of Health’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Incidents of National Consequence (CBRN INC)), however is not a first response Agency. Whilst ARPANSA has broad awareness of Australia’s ability to respond to a radiological or nuclear emergency, there is no formal ‘national picture’.  ARPANSA is also the National Capability Advisor for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Response and Assistance Network (RANET) and along with ANSTO currently provide the capabilities registered for Australia into RANET.

To better understand national capacity and capability to prepare for and respond to a radiological or nuclear incident or emergency, ARPANSA initiated a questionnaire which will be shared with responders in each jurisdiction. The aim of the questionnaire is to promote discussion on the ability to respond, understand expectations and to possibly identify gaps. This information will establish a central knowledge base and guide the strategies to be implemented for maintaining and building capacity and capability and for updating Australian RANET registration.

This webinar will discuss the preliminary themes identified from responses to the questionnaire that have been received so far.  A workshop proposal has been submitted for ARPS 2021 on ‘National Capacity Building in Radiation Protection’ to communicate plans and progress in understanding and building national capacity and capability in radiation protection, with an emphasis on emergency preparedness and response and it is expected the complete results of this questionnaire will be presented.