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The contemporary geopolitical environment and strategic uncertainty shaped by asymmetric and hybrid threats urge the future development of hands-on training in realistic environments. Training in immersive, virtual environments is a promising approach. Immersive training can support training for contexts that are otherwise hard to access, dangerous, or have high costs. This paper discusses the challenges for virtual reality training in the CBRN (chemical, biological, radioactive, nuclear) domain. Based on initial considerations and a literature review, we conducted a survey and three workshops to gather requirements for CBRN training in virtual environments. We structured the gathered insights into four overarching themes—the future of CBRN training, ethical and safety requirements, evaluation and feedback, and tangible objects and tools. We provide insights on these four themes and discuss recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The TRANSnational TUNnel operational CBRN risk mitigation (TRANSTUN) project has been able to create a Network of stakeholders coming from more than 15 countries worldwide, draft a set of Operational Guidelines based on a tailored Risk assessment, and undertake a real-life exercise, involving more than 250 first responders from France and Spain, to increase the interagency and inter-country capacity of emergency response in case of CBRN events in real cross-border tunnels. Despite the high costs and the time required to organize a real-life exercise, only this kind of exercises allow to verify and test current operational procedures carried out by rescue teams, first responders and tunnel operators to deal with a chemical accident/event in a tunnel under stressful conditions. For these reasons, real-life exercises also represent a unique opportunity to highlight the gaps that emerged and the critical issues that need to be managed in the response to this type of event. In this work, the findings of the real-life exercise activity performed within the TRANSTUN project at the Bielsa-Aragnouet tunnel are presented. The main objective of this work is to analyse the real-life exercise performed on September 9, 2021 and lasted about 6 hours with the aim to assess safety and security procedures, optimal use of CBRN equipment, knowledge of decontamination processes and finally to evaluate the performance gains and operational capacity by measuring intervention time and the number of personnel required, comparing the different available technologies. The results of the evaluation process carried out at the end of the real-life exercise are reported in this study both in terms of quantity and quality (lessons learned and good practices) and represent an example of a testing methodology that can be used as a reference point for the management of similar activities in the future involving further cross-border tunnels as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gamma spectrometry hand-held instrument may show considerable analytical performances and even if they are not specifically taught for quantitative environmental analysis, in this work we evaluate the performance of one of them in this field comparing the results with ICP-MS, the reference technique in this field. In our work we want to evaluate the possibility to use the analytical performances offered by a portable gamma spectrometer as confirmatory technique. We used for this test soils contaminated with thorium, an increasing interest pollutant, widely present in natural sediments and also emitted in environment by several anthropogenic processes such modern agricultural practices, industrial and military application. Thorium is expected also to increase in interest, for its possible exploitation as nuclear fuel instead of uranium by some countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CBRNe events that occur in a geographic location can have consequences on human health and/or infrastructures, even in places very far away from that where the event happened. Thus, the effects of such events often have an influence on the response systems of various countries, from a socio-economic point of view, from where the event had its origin. In this work, the authors dealt with the evaluation of the consequences of the accident at the Fukushima (Japan) nuclear power plant and in particular with the management of the effects of this event in a European country (Italy). The study was focused on the clinical examination of 50 people coming back to Italy from Japan in the days immediately following the disaster that occurred at the Fukushima nuclear power plant as an effect of the tsunami. During the screening, external and internal contaminations were checked; thyroidal monitoring was carried out to estimate the exposure to Cs and I. For all the 50 monitored persons, the measured values of contamination were not higher than the attention value, so the basic level analyses were sufficient, without the need to do further and more thorough examinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of the serious efforts to achieve chemical disarmament that culminated in the conclusion of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) began more than a century ago. Although toxic chemicals have been used as a method of warfare throughout the ages, it is clear from some of the earliest recorded incidents that such weapons have always been viewed as particularly abhorrent. In this article a special attention will be paid to each part of the Convention itself, the main aim of the Convention which is the destruction of chemical weapons owned by the signatory states and the control of production, stockpiling and use of chemical for civil use as well. Any violation of the obligations, even inside a state territory, is punished with sanctions provided for in the Convention. The purpose of the article is to understand the obligations that the signatory states are required to observe, the inspection mechanism of specialized organizations, the possible sanctions in case of violations of the obligations verified after the inspections and the future perspectives after the global changes. In this paper the authors will analyze the creation and the evolution of CWC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of weapons of mass destruction for military purposes is a problem that has its origins in the early history of humanity. Many substances were used as weapon but the chemical ones were the first to be used in history. The first use of chemical agents dates back to 7th century B.C. during the siege of Cirrha, a Greek city. In the literature of that time there are many examples of the use of chemicals, for example in Thucydides' papers, in which the Greek author describes how the Spartans had burned trees previously soaked with sulphur to produce toxic gases that would have reduced the Plataea city's protections. Unfortunately, their plan failed when the wind direction suddenly changed, poisoning their troops instead. Even the Middle Ages offer many testimonies of the use of chemicals as weapons. A real large-scale use of these substances took place in many other events, for example: during the American Civil war (1861-1865) when General Gilmore used explosive shells against the Confederates. In 1865, when Napoleon used hydrogen for military purposes and in 1900, during the Crimean war, when sulphuric gas was used against the Russian troops near Sevastopol. However, the highest levels of use of chemical agents were achieved during World Wars I and II (WWI and WWII). During these years of wars, the international community deemed necessary to regulate the use of this kind of substances and for this aim a couple of conferences were organized in 1899 and 1907 in The Hague to discuss the regulation of chemical agents' use during war. The most important conference took place in Geneva in 1925 where the Chemical Weapons Convention was born. This work is a review of the historical events involving dangerous chemical agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forensic microbiology came into the spotlight after the anthrax attack in September 2001 in the US. It is a new discipline that is able to trace the origin of a biological agent using a range of biological analyses, and it is based on the fast and accurate detection and identification of microorganisms found at a biological crime scene. In this paper, we will discuss the importance of forensic microbiology in CBRNe investigations. The technologies that are used for forensic microbiology, along with the most significant cases in which this discipline was successfully applied will also be described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a globalised world, the potential for crisis in the exchange of goods through sea routes continues to increase due to its low costs and technological progress. The worldwide terrorist threat has increasingly identified transports as a main target, showing several gaps in the field of security to which international conventions and organisations have tried to find solutions. The development of regulations that has followed the awareness of risks in the maritime sector has determined the creation of a complex organisation attending to prevention procedures and emergency measures. The control of maritime security is based on risk analysis and deterrence measures. This modus operandi, which involves public and private actors with different skills, has allowed the achievement of important results. In this work, we analyse maritime security by discussing the method used for risk assessment of passenger and cargo ships in relation to chemical, radiological and explosive threats, and available technologies that can be used to avoid illicit acts on board ships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in 1986 is considered as the most severe event that has ever occurred in the nuclear power industry, due to the considerable amounts of radioactive material released into the environment. The main purpose of this work is to simulate the dynamics of the local diffusion of caesium-137 (137Cs) in the area strictly close to the Chernobyl reactor. Among the released radionuclides, we selected 137Cs as it was responsible for most of the radiation exposure received by the general population. In order to simulate its local dispersion, HotSpot was used, being a user friendly freeware, and allowing to obtain data in terms of total effective dose equivalent (TEDE) and ground deposition. Two scenarios were simulated (General Fire and General Explosion) using boundary conditions selected from literature data. The obtained output data for the ground depositions were compared with the real ones, demonstrating that HotSpot allows for the simulation of radionuclide local release and diffusion due to the Chernobyl accident, even if only at a low scale. In fact, the relative proportions for the ground depositions values were respected and the measured TEDE values were in good agreement with the literature data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study deals with the need to develop analytical instruments to optimise rescue operations involving radiological exposure. It reports several aspects of analysis and characterisation of orphan radioactive sources. The protection problems in cases of detection and securing of radioactive sources are analysed, with particular attention to safety and security of operators and population from exposure, identification of attention areas, and detection of specific values of dose. After defining the characteristics of orphan radioactive sources, the authors examine the fundamental radiometric parameters. All these parameters have been integrated in a customised software, known as GREAT (Georeferenced Radiological Evaluation & Analysis Tool), that allows for rapid mapping of radiological risks by georeferencing of the data collected. Particular attention has been dedicated to the theoretical model and support tools aided to the choices of first responders. Radiological event, their consequences and the tools developed will be described by the authors in order to demonstrate the importance of this software for improvement of rescue operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]