“Preparedness” is putting in place procedures, equipment, and personnel capabilities that will be needed to respond. An NNSA emergency management program includes the following emergency preparedness activities to provide assurances of an effective response:

Structured Training/Drills Program
A comprehensive, coordinated, and documented program of training and drills is an integral part of the emergency management program to ensure that preparedness activities for developing and maintaining program-specific emergency response capabilities are accomplished.  The Emergency Operations Training Academy provides training and education in support of the NNSA emergency management programs and site-specific training programs.

Formal Exercise Program
A formal and focused exercise program should validate all elements of the emergency management program over a multi-year period.  Facility-level and site-level emergency management program elements are validated by initiating response to simulated, realistic emergency events and conditions in a manner that replicates an integrated emergency response to an actual event as nearly as possible.  Lessons-learned are developed, resulting in corrective actions and improvements.  The Emergency Management Issues Special Interest Group Exercises and Drills Sub-Committee has developed job aids and tools for the design and development of emergency response exercises.