Accident Simulation Study for Nuclear Power Plants Impacting Louisiana: Differences in 2017 vs. 1992 Protective Action Guidelines

Abstract

Louisiana has aligned its radiological emergency program with the 2017 US Environmental Protection Agency Protective Action Guides Manual but has added a child thyroid dose evacuation threshold in lieu of distributing potassium iodide to the public. The nuclear power plants will continue to align with the 1992 manual for the foreseeable future, which could lead to possible accident scenarios in which state recommendations would differ from those of the utility. The objective of this study is to predict what accident and weather conditions will lead to a differing set of recommendations. This study performs a representative set of simulations of potential nuclear power plant accidents using a combination of the RASCAL software package, provided by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and a Software system used by Entergy combining an older RASCAL dose modeling methodology with plant-specific input. Four preliminary results of this study are presented: a spent fuel fire where differences in whole body dose lead to very different evacuations, a loss of coolant accident in which the child thyroid dose is the determining factor, a core melt accident using stack monitors to locate the evacuation threshold point, and a spiked coolant accident that could lead to an evacuation order before the plant declares a General Emergency. Weather plays as great a role as accident conditions in determining whether the evacuation recommendations differ. The completed results of this study can provide guidance to states as they evaluate the transition to the 2017 guidelines.

Continuing Steady Challenges Involved in the Lifting of Evacuation Orders after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident

“…Although catastrophic nuclear accidents and disasters occur very rarely, the resulting social impact is enormous (McMahon and Chancellor 2022). In particular, nuclear accidents classified as higher than level 5 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) are considered to have widespread effects and require rapid and comprehensive government crisis management and strategy, including evacuation/shelter-in-place, large-scale assessment of contamination risks for residents, and the safety certification of local foods (Hick et al 2011).…”