Reports

This report addresses the safety of land-based commercial nuclear power plants in the United States. It demonstrates how the U.S. government achieves and maintains a high-level of nuclear safety worldwide by enhancing national measures and international cooperation and by meeting the obligations of all the articles established by the Convention.

The CDC ensures the health, safety, and security of the American people. CDC scientists and public health experts are world leaders at responding to large-scale health emergencies such as natural disasters, pandemics, deliberate attacks, environmental catastrophes, and other health threats. http://www.cdc.gov/about/report/docs/2015healthsecurityreport18_508.pdf

Preparing for and responding to public health emergencies require involvement of the governor’s office – which coordinates and organizes the response – and multiple state agencies, such as public health, homeland security, and emergency management. This National Governors Association paper details actions governors can take to improve preparedness and response

Federal agencies, which the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) surveyed, generally use land mobile radio (LMR) equipment to meet their core missions, such as public safety, emergency management, or firefighting. In this report, GAO examined federal agencies’ LMR interoperability and procurement practices. http://www.gao.gov/assets/690/680331.pdf

Mass casualty decontamination is an intervention employed by first responders at the scene of an incident involving noxious contaminants. This report reviews decontamination guidance for emergency responders and associated research evidence, in order to establish the extent to which psychosocial aspects of casualty management have been considered within these documents.

Policymakers are interested in sea-level rise because of the risk to coastal populations and infrastructure and the consequences for coastal species and ecosystems. This report describes the phenomenon of sea-level rise, the types of effects that sea-level rise can have on U.S. coasts, and provides a primer on policy considerations. 

The Office of Research and Development’s National Homeland Security Research Center (NHSRC), part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), published a new study of biological agent disinfection in the field using a mobile advanced oxidation process. https://cfpub.epa.gov/si/si_public_record_report.cfm?dirEntryId=326651

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Individual and Community Preparedness Division released the findings from its 2015 National Household Survey. Designed to measure household and individual preparedness and awareness, survey findings indicate specific levers that government and private sector partners can use to influence and increase overall individual and community

The U.S. Government Accountability Office’s prior work has shown that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has made progress in addressing barriers to conducting voluntary assessments, but guidance is needed for DHS’s critical infrastructure vulnerability assessment activities and to address potential duplication and gaps. http://www.gao.gov/assets/680/678344.pdf

In an effort to learn from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Ebola response effort, the Secretary of HHS asked a nonprofit research organization to review the Department’s international and domestic responses to the outbreak. To guide its work in improving preparedness for subsequent public health crises,