No-Notice Exercise (NNX)

ORAU assists DOE’s Office of Emergency Response in planning unannounced emergency preparedness exercises

What if you knew an emergency preparedness exercise was going to take place, but you didn’t know when and where it would occur?

Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) is very familiar with such a scenario, as the organization has conducted numerous “no-notice exercises” (NNX) on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Emergency Response (NA-42).

These full-scale, NNX exercises provide DOE with a snapshot of its asset readiness. Such exercises are conducted under realistic conditions and in real time, including one held at Virginia Beach, Va., where ORAU assisted NA-42 in testing the Nuclear/Radiological Advisory Team’s (NRAT) ability to search out and identify radioactive sources on board a ship.

The NNX scenario, designed by ORAU with support from members of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, centered on a U.S. Coast Guard request for DOE assistance in searching a container vessel for radioactive material. This was the first time NRAT’s maritime capability was demonstrated in a NNX.

After being briefed on the situation by USCG personnel, NRAT loaded their search equipment onto a small boat and boarded the container ship from the water by ladder. NRAT personnel used several search techniques once on board to locate and characterize radioactive sources hidden on the ship.

Exercises of this magnitude assess NA-42’s assets during their notification, mobilization, deployment and employment procedures, as well as equipment and performance.

ORAU was responsible for all aspects of exercise design, including identification of objectives, selection of exercise venues and documentation of asset competence.

The NNX program, which is designed to validate existing plans, policies and procedures in response to a real-world incident, seeks to assess the readiness of DOE radiological emergency response assets without prior knowledge of the participating assets.