Nuclear Emergency Support Team

The Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST) (formerly known as the Nuclear Emergency Search Team) is a team of scientists, technicians, and engineers operating under the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Their task is to be "prepared to respond immediately to any type of radiological accident or incident anywhere in the world".^[1]

History

Concerns over scenarios involving nuclear accidents or incidents on American soil are not recent. As early as the 1960s, officials were concerned that a nuclear weapon might be smuggled into the country, or that an airplane carrying a nuclear weapon might crash and contaminate surrounding areas. [1] In late 1974, President Gerald Ford was warned that the FBI received a communication from an extortionist wanting $200,000 after claiming that a nuclear weapon had been placed somewhere in Boston. A team of experts rushed in from the United States Atomic Energy Commission but their radiation detection gear arrived at a different airport. Federal officials then rented a fleet of vans to carry concealed radiation detectors around the city but forgot to bring the tools they needed to install the equipment. The incident was later found to be a hoax. However, the government's response made clear the need for an agency capable of effectively responding to such threats in the future. Later that year, President Ford created the Nuclear Emergency Search Team (NEST), which under the Atomic Energy Act is tasked with investigating the "illegal use of nuclear materials within the United States, including terrorist threats involving the use of special nuclear materials" ^[1].

Today

According to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, NEST has the ability to deploy as many as 600 people to the scene of a radiological incident, though deployments do not usually exceed 45 people. NEST has a variety of equipment (weighing up to 150 tons) and has the support of a small fleet of aircraft which includes four helicopters and three airplanes, all outfitted with detection equipment.

When an airborne response to an incident is underway, the Federal Aviation Administration grants NEST flights a higher control priority within the United States National Airspace System, designated with the callsign "FLYNET".

Capabilities

Since 1975, NEST has been warned of 125 nuclear terror threats and has responded to 30. All have been false alarms. While it is common belief that NEST does not have the technology to accurately detect nuclear threats within the noise of natural radiation, in fact it has had the capability to distinguish between man-made and natural radiation since the 1970s. At first, there were still some problems with this simple distinction, as man-made radiation also includes such things as medical radiation. A man under treatment for Graves' disease with radioactive iodine set off alarms in the New York City subway. After being strip-searched and interrogated he was sent on his way.^[2]

Since its initial creation, the detection equipment has been improved and now data can be processed accurately enough to home in on the activity of any single nuclear element desired.

In popular culture

• In the video game Metal Gear Solid, Nastasha Romanenko is an analyst on deployment from NEST who provides the player not only advice on weapons procured on site during the mission but also information on nuclear weapons and world politics concerning disarmament and deterrence.
• NEST teams are mentioned in the game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare where they are sent to try and defuse a nuclear device planted by Middle Eastern coup d'état leader Khaled Al-Asad in his own country. While the player is flying on a helicopter trying to get out of the city, Command warns that NEST teams are trying to defuse the bomb. It subsequently detonates, destroying the whole city and killing all 30,000 Marines present there.
• NEST is also mentioned in the motion pictures Broken Arrow, The Peacemaker, and Atomic Train, as well as in the made-for-television film Special Bulletin.
• A NEST team appears in season 2 of the television series "24." The team is called in response to finding an armed nuclear bomb just outside of Los Angeles, California. A NEST team is also deployed to New York City in season 8 of "24."
• A NEST team is described in the Tom Clancy book The Sum of All Fears. A terrorist thermonuclear device that fizzled is detonated in a fictional stadium called the Super Dome located in Denver, Colorado during the Super Bowl. A NEST team is deployed from Rocky Mountain Arsenal as part of the initial response to the detonation.
• NEST sensors are a plot feature in season two, episode 12 of NCIS: Los Angeles which posits that NEST have sensors all across LA and can apparently detect nuclear materials being transported in real time.

See also

• Federal Emergency Management Agency
• Department of Homeland Security
• Broken Arrow
• Nuclear power plant emergency response team

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} "DOE Fact Sheet" (PDF). http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/FactSheets/NEST.pdf. 
2. ^ "Radio-too-Active", "The Economist" 2 Dec 2004

Further reading

• Allison, Graham (2004). Nuclear Terrorism. New York: Times Books/Henry Holt. ISBN 9780805076516. 

External links

• Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST) Department of Energy - Nevada Site Office
• "Defusing nuclear terror". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 2002-03-01. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-25176515_ITM. Retrieved 2007-05-13.