ABSTRACT
Accidents or acts of terror and sabotage may result in fires, explosions and/or release and dispersion of toxic chemicals with possible catastrophic consequences in the form of loss of lives, environmental damage, and destruction of infrastructure. The purpose of this study is to contribute to national emergency preparedness planning for chemical disasters. Identifying and analysing representative scenarios is a valuable tool to achieve this goal. This paper presents the methodology of morphological analysis used to structure chemical incidents in a set of generic scenario classes which in principle cover all possible events. Subsequently, a set of four hypothetical specific scenarios were developed and used in consequence assessments and analyses of the current Norwegian emergency preparedness and to identify possible improvements. The results from two of the scenario analyses are presented here as examples of the methodology; a large oil-spill from an oil tanker and a terrorist chemical attack.
