H. JOSEF HEBERT
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Energy Department is making surplus radiation detection equipment available to state and local officials in case it is needed to respond to a nuclear terror attack, the department said Monday.
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The equipment will ``help ensure that our law enforcement and emergency personnel have the necessary equipment and training to prepare them to respond effectively and thoroughly to any emergency,'' Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said in a statement.
The equipment, most of which is being refurbished after being declared surplus at DOE weapons sites around the country, first will go to states with the largest urban population centers, officials said.
The devices, including hand-held dosimeters, filtering systems, glove boxes and monitoring equipment, is being refurbished at the Energy Department's material recycling center in Oak Ridge, Tenn., before its distribution.
Jointly administered by DOE and the Justice Department's Office of Domestic Preparedness, the program is part of a broader federal effort to better prepare police, fire officials and others who would be the initial responders to a nuclear incident, officials said.
Attorney General John Ashcroft said in a statement supply of the material ``demonstrates the administration's commitment to equipping those on the domestic front lines - our state and local emergency first responders - in the nation's effort to prevent future terrorist attacks.''
The Justice Department office will decide how the equipment will be distributed, and the Energy Department will deliver the devices to the states and communities, officials said. Training police, firefighters and other local officials in how to use the equipment will be conducted by federal agencies and through the private Health Physics Society, an organization of radiation safety professionals.
In an initial test phase of the program, equipment will be made available to states with the nation's 10 largest metropolitan areas: Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington.
Much of the equipment is classified as surplus at DOE weapons complex facilities because the sites have been cleaned up or closed after being part of the government's nuclear weapons complex, according to a fact sheet provided on an Energy Department web site.
``In the past this equipment would be disposed of as waste at considerable cost to the American taxpayers. ... DOE is now putting the equipment to new uses in defending our nation,'' said the fact sheet.
