Alternative Evacuation Strategies for Nuclear Power Accidents

摘要

Current strategies used to determine who to evacuate following a nuclear-power plant accident have not changed significantly since the emergency planning guidelines were established in the early 1980s. In the past thirty years, new technologies have been introduced, allowing faster computation, better modeling of predicted radiological consequences, improved accident mapping with geographic information systems (GIS), and new means to communicate. Additionally, the populations surrounding nuclear-power plants are denser; more people live closer to reactors than ever before. In the past 30 years, the average population living within 16 kilometers of these plants has increased by 62%, from approximately 40,000 to almost 65,000 per site. Furthermore, at 12 of the 65 reactor sites, populations have more than doubled. In the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident-considering the range of new capabilities and the greater population at risk-it is time to reexamine the U.S. nuclear-power plant evacuation strategy.