www.jrc.ec.europa.eu Contact Elisabeth Krausmann, Ph.D. European Commission, Joint Research Centre Critical Infrastructure Protection Via E. Fermi, 2749 I-21027 Ispra (VA), Italy Tel.: 0039-0332-789612 E-mail: [email protected] NATECH Accidents When natural disasters trigger technological accidents © European Union 2012 Status of Natech risk reduction in the EU and OECD Natech research activities: present and future Objective: Support the industry and the Member States in the identification and reduction of Natech risk. • Legislation and codes for chemical accident preven- tion rarely address Natech risk. • There is little knowledge on the dynamics of Natechs. • There are hardly any meth- odologies and tools for Nat- ech risk assessment. • There is no guidance for industry on how to assess Nat- ech risk. • There are only few best practices for Natech risk reduction. • Emergency response plans do not consider the charac- teristics of Natech accidents (loss of utilities). • There are no Natech risk maps to identify areas in danger. • The situation is aggravated by the expected increase of Natech risk due to climate change and the increasing vulnerability of our society. • We work to improve this situation in collaboration with EU Member States, OECD, UN and academia. • Accident analysis to identify vulnerable equipment, damage modes and accident sce- narios. • Development of methodolo- gies and tools for Natech risk assessment and mapping, e.g. equipment vulnerability mod- els, damage scale for event characterization, RAPID-N, etc. • Risk assessment to determine Natech risk level. • Development of recommenda- tions and guidelines for Nat- ech risk reduction. • Generation of lessons learned and dissemination. What is a Natech accident? A Natech accident is a technological accident trig- gered by a natural event, such as earthquakes, floods, storms, lightning, landslides, etc. In this context technological accident is understood as: • Damage to and hazardous-materials release from fixed chemical plants. • Damage to and hazardous-materials release from oil and gas pipelines. Why are Natech accidents problematic? • Natural disasters can trigger simultaneous releases from single or multiple sources. • Lifelines needed for disaster mitigation are likely to be un- available. • Simultaneous emergency response efforts are required to cope with both the natural disaster and the technological accident. • Standard civil protection measures may not be functional or appropriate. • Safety and mitigation measures are usually not assessed for Natech accidents. At least 50% of surveyed EU Member States and OECD Member Countries have experienced one or more Natech accidents, sometimes with fatalities and injuries, environmental and/or economic damage. Earthquake, Turkey, 1999 Floods, Czech Republic, 2002

NATECH Accidents... Contact Elisabeth Krausmann, Ph.D. European Commission, Joint Research Centre Critical Infrastructure Protection Via E. Fermi, 2749 I-21027 Ispra

Download PDF Report

Upload
others
View
0
Download
0

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: NATECH Accidents... Contact Elisabeth Krausmann, Ph.D. European Commission, Joint Research Centre Critical Infrastructure Protection Via E. Fermi, 2749 I-21027 Ispra

www.jrc.ec.europa.eu

ContactElisabeth Krausmann, Ph.D.European Commission, Joint Research CentreCritical Infrastructure ProtectionVia E. Fermi, 2749I-21027 Ispra (VA), ItalyTel.: 0039-0332-789612E-mail: [email protected]

NATECH AccidentsWhen natural disasters trigger technological accidents

urop

ean

Uni

on 2

012

Status of Natech risk reduction in the EU and OECD Natech research activities: present and future

Objective: Support the industry and the Member States in the identification and reduction of Natech risk.

•Legislation and codes for chemical accident preven-tion rarely address Natech risk.

•There is little knowledge on the dynamics of Natechs.

•There are hardly any meth-odologies and tools for Nat-ech risk assessment.

•There is no guidance for in-dustry on how to assess Nat-ech risk.

•There are only few best practices for Natech risk re-duction.

•Emergency response plans do not consider the charac-teristics of Natech accidents (loss of utilities).

•There are no Natech risk maps to identify areas in danger.

•The situation is aggravated by the expected increase of Natech risk due to climate change and the increasing vulnerability of our society.

•We work to improve this sit-uation in collaboration with EU Member States, OECD, UN and academia.

•Accident analysis to identify vulnerable equipment, dam-age modes and accident sce-narios.

•Development of methodolo-gies and tools for Natech risk assessment and mapping, e.g. equipment vulnerability mod-els, damage scale for event characterization, RAPID-N, etc.

•Risk assessment to determine Natech risk level.

•Development of recommenda-tions and guidelines for Nat-ech risk reduction.

•Generation of lessons learned and dissemination.

What is a Natech accident?A Natech accident is a technological accident trig-gered by a natural event, such as earthquakes, floods, storms, lightning, landslides, etc.In this context technological accident is understood as:•Damage to and hazardous-materials release from

fixed chemical plants.•Damage to and hazardous-materials release from oil

and gas pipelines.

Why are Natech accidents problematic?•Natural disasters can trigger simultaneous releases from

single or multiple sources.

•Lifelines needed for disaster mitigation are likely to be un-available.

•Simultaneous emergency response efforts are required to cope with both the natural disaster and the technological accident.

•Standard civil protection measures may not be functional or appropriate.

•Safety and mitigation measures are usually not assessed for Natech accidents.

At least 50% of surveyed EU Member States and OECD Member Countries have experienced one or more Natech accidents, sometimes with fatalities and injuries, environmental and/or economic damage.

Earthquake, Turkey, 1999 Floods, Czech Republic, 2002