Publicatie | Introduction to RAPID-N for Natech Risk Analysis and Mapping: A Beginner’s Guide
[ Bron : Girgin, S. Necci, A. ]
Samenvatting
The impact of natural hazards on industrial plants, pipelines, offshore platforms and other
infrastructure that handles, stores or transports hazardous substances can cause fires,
explosions, and toxic or radioactive releases. These so called Natech accidents are a
recurring but often overlooked feature in many natural disasters and have often had
significant human, environmental and economic impacts.
Successfully controlling Natech risk is usually a major challenge, which requires targeted
prevention, preparedness and response. Systematic analysis of the Natech risk is a
prerequisite for this purpose. Developed by the European Commission Joint Research
Centre (JRC) in response to requests by competent authorities, the Rapid Natech Risk
Analysis and Mapping System (RAPID-N) is an online software for the quick analysis and
mapping of Natech accident risk both at local and regional levels. The system unites
natural-hazard impact and damage assessment, Natech scenario development, and
chemical accident consequence analysis capabilities under a single roof featuring an open,
extensible, and collaborative architecture facilitating data entry, analysis and visualisation.
Since it became operational in 2012, the user base of RAPID-N has been growing, including
more and more users from public authorities, research organisations, academia, and the
private sector. According to feedback from the users, the system has been further
developed in time to provide additional capabilities, such as a modern and mobile-friendly
user interface, a more advanced analysis framework, and extended support for various
natural hazards and industrial activities. Besides a comprehensive user manual,
case-studies and hands-on training are also provided by the JRC to support the users.
As part of these support activities, this beginner’s guide aims to deliver a comprehensive,
yet easy-to-follow introduction to Natech risk analysis and mapping by using RAPID-N. The
user interface, data estimation framework, and risk analysis methodology are explained in
detail. Step-by-step tutorials are provided for various Natech risk analysis case-studies
ranging from a simple single industrial plant scenario to a scenario involving multiple
industrial plants and multiple plant equipment. The guide also includes updated information
to the User Manual by describing features and capabilities added, updated, or deprecated
since the publication of the manual.
