The Federal Emergency Management Agency's alert and notification systems review program

Abstract

Nuclear power plants throughout the United States are required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to provide the means for early notification and clear instruction of the populace within the 10‐mile radius Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) around each plant. The regulations and the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) technical program for reviewing and approving alert and notification systems are discussed in this paper. The FEMA program consists of an acoustical/engineering review of the system design, coupled with a telephone survey of residents of the EPZ following activation of the system to determine its effectiveness. To date, system designs have been submitted for every nuclear power plant in the nation. The engineering design review has been completed at 68 sites, and a telephone survey has been completed at 63 sites. Recently, the technical standards against which alert and notification systems are reviewed have come under scrutiny in Atomic Safety and Licensing Board litigation and FEMA has defended the adequacy of the current standards. Efforts are underway to place the Outdoor Sound Propagation Model used in the alert and notification system reviews into FEMA's Integrated Emergency Management Information System for application to civil defense programs, hazardous materials program, and other programs in and outside of FEMA.