18 June 2014 (11:17 UTC-07 Tango)/19 Sha’ban 1435/28 Khordad 1393/21 Geng Wu 4712

Idaho’s Bonneville County Sheriff’s Department took part in the International Radiological Assistance Program Training for Emergency Response (I-RAPTER) radiological response training put on by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Idaho National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy.

The main scenario was an incident involving the transportation of nuclear waste, but Bonneville County Sheriff spokesman Jeff Edwards explained they also trained for the theft of radioactive materials from hospitals.

Most people don’t know that medical testing devices, like x-ray machines, use radioactive material.

According to the NationalJournal this I-RAPTER nuclear disaster training was a joint training exercise that took place not just in eastern Idaho, but in a recent NATO exercise held in Czech Republic: “The course focused on procedures for first responders, law enforcement and specialists in detecting and responding to emergencies involving nuclear and radiological material. The participants received classroom instruction on radiation concepts, radiation detection, mission planning, alarm adjudication and response/recovery. The field exercises were designed to provide hands-on training using radiation detection technology to localize radiation hotspots, measure dose rates, and identify the radioactive material. Participants gained real-world experience when they located and identified radiation sources at the local air museum using a Spectral Advanced Radiological Computer System (SPARCS) mounted in a van.”

Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, and the Remote Sensing Laboratory at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, also assist with I-RAPTER training.

In 2010 the U.S. Department of Energy was tasked by Homeland Security with picking a nuclear disaster training site for ‘first responders’, and ended up choosing the Idaho National Laboratory.