Brooke Buddemeier, CHP, MS, BS

Principal Investigator
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Brooke Buddemeier is a Certified Health Physicist (Radiation Safety Specialist) in the Global Security directorate of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). He supports the Risk and Consequence Management Division in their efforts to evaluate the potential risk and consequence of radiological and nuclear terrorism. LLNL does this by providing expert technical information in nuclear-threat assessment, nuclear incident response, and forensics and attribution.

Brooke is a council member of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) and on the scientific committees which developed Commentary No. 19 – Key Elements of Preparing Emergency Responders for Nuclear and Radiological Terrorism (2005) and NCRP Report # 165 – Responding to a Radiological or Nuclear Terrorism Incident: A Guide for Decision Makers (2010). Brooke is an active member of the Health Physics Society (HPS) and member of the HPS Homeland Security Committee.

From 2003 through 2007, Brooke was on assignment with the Department of Homeland Security’s as the WMD emergency response and consequence management program manager for Science and Technology’s emergency preparedness and response portfolio. He supported FEMA and the Homeland Security Operations Center as a radiological emergency response subject matter expert. He also facilitated the department’s research, development, test, and evaluation process to improve emergency response through better capabilities, protocols, and standards.

Before moving to DHS, he was part of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Nuclear Counterterrorism Program and coordinated LLNL’s involvement in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Radiological Assistance Program (RAP) for California, Nevada, and Hawaii. RAP is a national emergency response resource that assists federal, state and local authorities in the event of a radiological incident.

As part of RAP’s outreach efforts, Brooke has provided radiological responder training and instrumentation workshops to police, firefighters, and members of other agencies throughout the nation. He has also trained radiological emergency responders on the use of specialized radiological response equipment throughout the United States and in Kazakhstan.

Brooke has also provided operational health physics support for various radiochemistry, plutonium handling, accelerator, and dosimetry operations at LLNL for over 15 years, and been working on emergency response issues for over 10 years. He has participated in radiological emergency responses and exercises throughout the world.

Education and Certification:
Certified Health Physicist, American Board of Health Physics, November 2000.
M.S. Radiological Health Physics, San Jose State University, May 1997
B.S. Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, June 1987.