Examples of possible NBC incidents
Preparing protection measures
Both natural and man-made disasters can occur at any time and put the population at risk. Nuclear, biological and chemical weapons can also be misused for terrorist ends. Specialist expert knowledge is needed to handle dangerous substances, for example following a chemical accident or epidemic. A scenario describes a possible course of events, which illustrate and best represent a category of potential hazards. In Switzerland, the bodies appointed to deal with NBC protection issues use these types of scenarios to develop and continually review the necessary NBC protection measures. In its NBC Protection Strategy for Switzerland, the Federal Commission for NBC Protection (ComNBC) established 14 NBC reference scenarios.
Nuclear
- Accident in a nuclear facility – release of radioactivity with prior warning
- "Dirty Bomb" – Spontaneous release of radioactivity causing contamination
- Deployment of nuclear weapon – ground explosion – close to the Swiss border
- Attack on a train transporting highly radioactive waste
Biological
- Deliberate contamination of food with ricin
- Terrorist attack involving pox viruses
- Terrorist anthrax attack
- Pandemic (SARS etc.)
- Accident in a Biosafety Level 3 laboratory with unintentional release of contaminants
Chemical
- Transport attack or accident
- Accident in a chemical storage facility
- Chemical terrorism – Hydrogen cyanide attack in a shopping centre
- Chemical terrorism – Sarin attack in an airport
- Long-range missile attack on Switzerland