KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasI-Team: Nuclear Emergency Response Teams Train in Las Vegas

I-Team: Nuclear Emergency Response Teams Train in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- Fears of nuclear terrorism prompted representatives from at least 26 countries, including Russia and China, to make a quiet visit to Las Vegas recently. They were in town to check out a highly sophisticated, but little known, operation that would be critical in the event of a nuclear disaster.

The program is called FRMAC and it just might be the most important program you've never heard of. FRMAC stands for Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center. In the event of a nuclear accident of terror attack, FRMAC would be the first line of defense, in a sense. Team members would spring into action, grab their gear, and be airborne in an instant, ready to monitor the radiation and assess what should be done next.

No one else in the world has this kind of expertise, which is why the foreign countries were invited to town to learn from the best.

In Tom Clancy's The Sum of All Fears, fascists smuggle a nuclear device into Baltimore and detonate it. A more likely scenario, experts say, is that Islamic terrorists acquire a small nuke, or a so called dirty bomb, and attack an American city or nuclear power plant.

No matter what the scenario or where, ground zero for the responders will be Las Vegas.

"This is where the emergency response starts," said Dr. Harvey Clark with FRMAC.

At first glance, it may not look like much. The thousands of people who drive past the north end of Nellis every day have no idea what's just beyond the fence in a non-descript beige building. The only outside hint is the sign.

If the unthinkable happens, this will be the nerve center, the eyes, ears, and brain for emergency responders and policymakers who would have to know as soon as possible how bad things are on the ground.

The central mission, according to Dr. Roger Thompson, will be to coordinate data that is measured in a radiological release and get it to the right people at the right time.

The reason it's in Las Vegas is simple -- the decades of real life experience and hands on expertise emanating from the Nevada Test Site.

FRMAC was created in the aftermath of the 3 Mile Island power plant incident and became more urgent after the attacks of 9/11. Intelligence experts say there is no question that terrorists are trying to obtain nuclear materials for a bomb. It could be when, not if.

"A worst case scenario has to be a nuclear detonation, by far. Every other nuclear accident pales. With a nuclear detonation, hundreds of thousands may die. So it's just enormous in scale," said Dr. Clark.

In the event of an explosion somewhere, FRMAC would be ready. The teams train constantly, similar to war games. They make projections about what would happen if a bomb went off, say, near the White House, where the radiation would spread, what areas would need to be evacuated, how long the region would be contaminated.

"Inside this area, unless people got into prominent shelter, survival is unlikely," said Dr. Clark. "In 50 years, you still have to worry about the fallout."

The first people to know a radiation device is involved would likely be firefighters. That would set into motion the FRMAC response. Teams could be in the air within two hours, in aircraft packed with the most sensitive radiation detection gear in the world. Any radiation that could pose a threat to the public will be found by their aerial sensors and sent back to Las Vegas in real time.

Raja Mena shows what's called the "Home Team Room." This would be the heart of the operation until the radiation monitors arrive at the scene. Her people would analyze the situation and feed information to local agencies.

FRMAC deals with more than just hypothetical's. When Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, the most sophisticated sensors in the world were dispatched to look for submerged sources of radiation. No one is better prepared to deal with the ultimate disaster.

"We are the forefront. DOE is the premier asset for this type of response," said Mena.

FRMAC scientists and managers say they shudder to think how much worse a nuclear incident could be without their eyes and ears. Understandably, they are opposed to proposals that would eliminate the Department of Energy, which is the parent organization for their program.

Learn More About the Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center