Paducah Tests Drones for Emergency Response

Tim Fralix, left, and Clint Dietsch, drone pilots for the Paducah Site, launch a drone from the Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Conversion Plant to provide live streaming video to the Emergency Operations Center. Photo by Nathan Lange.

PADUCAH, Ky. - Drones are undergoing testing to support emergency response at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management's (EM) Paducah Site.

EM recently integrated drones into an exercise to support emergency responders and provide a live video feed of conditions to the site's Emergency Operations Center. During the exercise, employees used drones for surveying, thermal imaging and potential search-and-rescue operations.

"It's exciting any time we can implement a new technology to improve and support the DOE mission," EM Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) Manager Joel Bradburne said. "The ability to assess and get real-time feedback in the Emergency Operations Center is invaluable to our emergency response organizations and is a great example of integration at the Paducah Site."

During the exercise, drone pilots and emergency responders familiarized themselves with the deployment and operation of the drone in the field and successfully provided a live streaming video of the exercise to the center and command post to deliver valuable information in the event of a real emergency.

"Any time we can incorporate new tools into our emergency response capabilities, it is a benefit to our emergency responders," PPPO Emergency Management Analyst Scott Baird said. "Communication is critical during a response and the drone deployment provides the ability to gather and share information quickly from a unique perspective for the field and our Emergency Operations Center."

Multiple organizations at the site, including aviation experts, engineering, site operations, cybersecurity and emergency management, spent weeks preparing for the inclusion of drones in the exercise.

-Contributor: Dylan Nichols