Critical Incident Stress Management CISM

¶ … Stress Management

Since the September 11th terrorist attacks, the possibility of an assault on a nuclear facility has been increasingly brought to the forefront. Part of the reason for this, is because many of these locations are considered to be an easy target. As a result, the industry has been working on establishing a critical incident stress management (CISM) program to deal with these underlying challenges. To fully understand how this is taking place requires looking at the CISM protocol for the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). Once this occurs it will provide the greatest insights as to how effectively the industry is prepared to deal with these underlying challenges.

Mission Statement Introduction

The NEI has a mission that is encompassing a number of different elements including: the commercialization of nuclear power, the use of industrial manufacturing / applications of this technology, uranium mining / processing, the manufacture of nuclear related materials, transportation, the disposal of the nuclear waste and the security of these facilities. These different elements are important, because they are showing how this organization is representing in the interests of the industry. ("About the NEI," 2011)

Evaluate critical incident stress and its manifestations.

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To deal with possible challenges, the NEI has created a CISM plan that can be utilized during the event of a possible terrorist attack. This is because, the aftermath of the September 11th incidents revealed that a number of facilities around the country were vulnerable to these kinds of situations. Evidence of this can be seen with comments from one the main planners of the 911 attacks Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Where, he said in an interview one year before his capture, "We had a large surplus of brothers willing to die as martyrs. As we studied various targets, nuclear facilities arose as a key option." The only reason why they did not focus on these kinds of facilities was due to the fact that Al Qaida was fearful that this could become out of control. At which point, this aspect of their strategy was quickly dropped. ("Al Jazeera Offers Accounts," 2002) This is significant, because it is showing the vulnerability of nuclear facilities to these kinds of attacks. As a result, the NEI developed the CISM to address these possible issues.

The current CISM strategy calls for the industry to take steps that will minimize the overall amounts of collateral damage to a facility in the event of an attack. The most notable include: the use of four feet steel enforced liners, surveillance cameras to monitor unusual activity outside of the facility and a six inch steel reactor. ("Plant Security," 2011)

Evaluate the long-term effects of unaddressed stress.

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To determine the different weaknesses of these kinds of approaches we will look at the possible issues that could have been overlooked. This is the point that we can see the underlying amounts of collateral damage in the event that there is some kind of security breech.

The long-term effects of unaddressed stresses are to limit any kind breaches to the facility. This is accomplished by having each location following these standard protocols. In the event that there is some kind of attack, this will limit the possibility that there could be significant damage to the core of the reactor. ("Plant Security," 2011)

Evaluate resilience as a component of CISM.

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To deal with the various challenges the CISM plan has been designed to help protect the core reactor. In this section we are examining how this will take place in the event that there is a successful breach of the outside security perimeter. This is the point that we will have a better understanding of these issues and the long-term impact they are having on the industry.

Resilience is one of the main characteristics of the strategy that is being utilized. Where, there are six inches of reinforced steel that is designed to limit any kind of effects from the use of conventional explosives. This is intended to give crews the ability to quickly adjust to changes inside the facility itself. ("Plant Security," 2011)

Evaluate Interventions appropriate to the prevention and treatment of CIS.

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