The names Chernobyl and Fukushima will forever be synonymous with nuclear disasters, much like Hiroshima and Nagasaki are with nuclear warfare.
Their sad tales will be recounted through history and the actions, reactions and lessons from each site debated for years to come. Equally, decisions regarding nuclear safety in the future should bear these events in mind.
With growing risks emerging from regions under conflict that have vanishing or no borders at all, collaboration when it comes to CBRN knowledge and training is becoming vital.
Nowhere will collaboration be more important than in the Gulf and Middle East. With instability spreading out from Iraq into Syria and Iran, it’s key that nations and defence bodies communicate to ensure their response to potential CBRN events are swift and successful.
With the World Cup fast approaching, it has become a race against time for Brazil to have all the stadia and infrastructure ready for when the first match kicks-off on June 12th.
Although the competition itself is sure to be a momentous event, the emergency services will have to be prepared for every eventuality, from crowd trouble to terrorist attacks.
Last month we were delighted to attend the first SIM OPS (le forum de la simulation operationnelle) conference and exhibition at EDS (écoles militaries de Saumur) in the Loire Valley, France. Exhibiting with our French representatives, APVL ingenerie, who did a great job in making the arrangements, we were hosted on site by CDNBC (centre de défense nucléaire biologique et chimique).
The UK Government recently announced that it was planning a new elite college to educate a new generation of nuclear engineers. The college is quoted as being “an important step forward for the UK and its nuclear future.” The announcement states that the forecasted nuclear new builds will create 40,000 jobs in the UK during its peak, though many employers in the industry are recording skills shortages, especially in engineering.
Earlier this month, we said namaste to Defexpo India 2014. This year was the fourth time we’ve taken part in the event that covers land, naval and internal homeland security systems. We’ve taken part in other events in the region before, and supplied equipment to the College of Military Engineering based at Pune, India, but it was great to return to the sheer scale of a full military exhibition. Argon were part of the stand representing UK solutions providers, which was manned in part by our Sales Manager, Patrick Hickmott.
Radiation is invisible, odourless and tasteless. It is constantly around us – from natural radiation in the air, from cosmic rays, in the earth and building materials, to man-made radioactive materials such as medical radiotherapy or nuclear fuel used to power nuclear power stations.
“The Chernobyl accident was a great human tragedy, but many valuable and important lessons were learned as a result of it. ‘Safety First’ is the watchword that must underpin all of our work in the future, even more than in the past.” These were the words of Yukiya Amano, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, speaking at the International Conference on Chernobyl: Twenty Five Years On – Safety for the Future, in April 2011.
It sounds like the horrifying basis of a Hollywood science fiction film; controlling the weather to use as a powerful weapon of war. But as a recently released book, Arming Mother Nature: The Birth of Catastrophic Environmentalism makes clear, this was seriously considered not long after the Second World War.
How do you train your response teams to tackle a CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear) attack on London without endangering public safety or causing a panic? Moreover, how do you create a realistic scenario where the trainees don’t know what to expect, reflecting the truth that responders don’t always know what they’re looking for in a real life situation?