Authors: U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)

Date of Publication:  September 1979

Sponsoring Agency:  U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)

Performing Organization:  U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Bureau of Technology

Report No: NTSB-HZM-79-3

Abstract:

Observations of emergency response activities following a March 31, 1977, railroad accident near Rockingham, North Carolina, prompted the National Transportation Safety Board to initiate this special investigation of emergency response plans for handling railroad accidents in which hazardous materials, including those classified as radioactive, are involved.

While the movement of hazardous materials through normal transportation channels is of concern to Federal, State, and local Government agencies and to the public, the transportation of radioactive materials is of special concern. For this reason, special plans designed to cope with emergencies involving radioactive materials have been developed at various levels of Government and by private industry. These plans are the most comprehensive yet formulated for handling hazardous materials emergencies, and they have served as models for many nonradiological contingency plans. With the probable increase in the transportation of radioactive and other hazardous materials by rail, the Safety Board believes that all existing emergency response plans need to be critically reviewed to determine their adequacy.
 

No. of Pages:  29