NOAA Air Resources Laboratory

NOAA logo Modeling Support to the NRC and other Federal Agencies
The NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) is organized to provide meteorological services and related research to NOAA and to other Federal agencies, as needed, to help predict the consequences of atmospheric releases of radioactivity and other potentially harmful trace materials.

Since 1991, NOAA has provided meteorological assistance and scientific oversight to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) at exercises, events, weather emergencies, and technical meetings.

The assistance provided by NOAA is designed to place the NRC or other Federal Agency in a "proactive" mode, in the event of an emergency; that is, to provide the capacity to anticipate response actions that are found to be appropriate and to predict the consequences of actions as they are taken. This assistance is provided largely by drawing on the current capabilities of NOAA and ARL.

Meteorology and transport model forecasts