NRC Background

The primary function of the National Response Center is to serve as the sole national point of contact for reporting all oil, chemical, radiological, biological, and etiological discharges into the environment anywhere in the United States and its territories. In addition to gathering and distributing spill data for Federal On-Scene Coordinators and serving as the communications and operations center for the National Response Team, the NRC maintains agreements with a variety of federal entities to make additional notifications regarding incidents meeting established trigger criteria. The NRC also takes Terrorist/Suspicious Activity Reports and Maritime Security Breach Reports. Details on the NRC organization and specific responsibilities can be found in the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan while a simplified discussion of NRC tasking is outlined below.

Briefs the White House, Office of Homeland Security, Secretary of Transportation, and Chiefs of Modal Administrations regarding all significant transportation emergencies reported to the Center;

Provides information the Coast Guard's Office of Marine Safety, Security, and Environmental Protection as needed for a variety of reports, studies, or Congressional Inquiries;

Receives and relays reports of incidents reportable under the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act;

Provides electronic and hard copy incident reports to various DOT agencies;

And provides notification to specific DOT and National Transportation Safety Board offices of transportation related incidents that meet certain pre-established criteria.

On behalf of other Federal Agencies, the NRC provides the following services to enhance the Federal Response System:

For the Environmental Protection Agency, the NRC receives incident reports under the Federal Response System (FRS) which is supported under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, SARA Title III, and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. The NRC disseminates telephonic and electronic (fax, email) reports of oil discharges and chemical releases to the cognizant EPA Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC);

For the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the NRC acts as a 24 hour contact point to receive earthquake, flood, hurricane, and evacuation reports;

For the Nuclear Regulator Commission, and the Department of Energy, the NRC makes telephonic notification of all incidents involving radioactive material releases to the environment;

For the Department of Interior, the NRC receives reports of incidents involving Trans-Alaskan Pipeline Oil and electronically forwards the reports to the appropriate DOI representative;

For the Department of Defense, incidents involving transportation emergencies with DOD munitions or explosives are recorded and referred for action to the Army Operations Center. Any transportation anomaly involving hypergolic rocket fuels and oxidizers are recorded and immediately passed to the Air Force Operations Center.

The NRC established the Domestic Preparedness Chemical/Biological Hotline in conjunction with DOD and DOJ. The NRC takes reports via the toll-free number on potential or actual domestic terrorism and coordinates notifications and response with the Soldier and Biological Chemical Command (SBCCOM) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation;

For the Department of Health and Human Services, releases of etiological and biological agents are recorded at the NRC and referred to the Centers for Disease Control;

For the Federal Railroad Administration, the NRC maintains the 24 hour Rail Emergency Hotline (1-800-424-0201) to take reports of railroad incidents involving hazardous materials, grade crossing fatalities, accidents resulting in injury or death of railroad employees, and the refusal of railroad employees to submit to required toxicological testing.

Additionally, the NRC is the contact point for activation of the National Response Team and provides facilities for the NRT to use in coordinating a national response action when required.

The NRC is staffed by Coast Guard personnel who maintain a 24 hour per day, 365 day per year telephone watch. NRC Watch Standers enter telephonic reports of pollution incidents into the Incident Reporting Information System (IRIS) and immediately relay each report to the pre-designated Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC). The IRIS system was designed and developed by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Charleston, National Capital Region and is central to all NRC operations. The NRC also provides emergency response support to the FOSCs and has the ability to quickly place them in direct contact with expert technical support centers (ATSDR, CDC, CHEMTREC) if needed. To view the NRC 101 Slide Show Presentation, click here.

The data that is collected by the NRC is made available to the general public under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and can be queried on-line via our web site. For written requests, please send your correspondence to the following address;