Emergency Action Level Research Articles

Design and development of code for emergency action level in a reprocessing plant

Emergency action level (EAL) development is an important tool of emergency decision-making support; EAL is an important basis for emergency response of reprocessing plants. The method recommended by DOE to determine EAL is emergency planning hazards assessment (EPHA). Based on the EPHA methodology, development method of EAL for a reprocessing plant was proposed and then the method was applied and the results were analyzed and utilized. Based on the EAL matrix of a reprocessing plant, an EAL code was designed, programmed and tested. Design of the code mainly includes data grouping, flowchart drawing, frame layer design and presentation layer design. Specifically, data was grouped into 25 groups based on the actual acquisition of data and requirements of judgments for EALs, and flowcharts includes the main flowchart, the automatic judgment flowchart and the manual judgment flowchart. The core judgment module of code for emergency action level in a reprocessing plant was coded by FORTRAN language, and the user interface was developed by Java language. EALs could be determined by relevant characteristic data. Tests are divided into internal tests of the functional module and third-party independent tests. The present results show that the code is exact and reliable, and then the code could be an important auxiliary tool for emergency preparedness and response.

Study on Description of Plant Status at Fukushima Accident by Emergency Action Level

Abstract This paper aims at verifying the current Japanese Emergency Response Guideline, especially the “notification” (reporting) scheme of emergency action level (EAL), through the analysis of the progress of Fukushima nuclear accident. We compared timing and emergency classification between two datasets of the plant statuses which expressed by the old prediction-based notification and the latest EAL-based notification, in order to assess the current EAL scheme along the effectiveness of protective action for the local residents. We observed that the plant statuses expressed by the current EAL-based notification gave more engineering insights in the earliest accident phase to identify the accident scenario. However, potential improvement area of the guideline was also observed in the following severe accident management (SAM) phase after the trigger of first precautionary action, where we are required to reduce uncertainties in both processes of the operator's notification and the government's decision making by evaluating the progression speed of the severe accident.

A rapid radio-bioassay method for strontium estimation in nuclear/radiological emergencies

Strontium (Sr) is a by-product of the nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. It is an important radionuclide in spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste and is considered as one of the most hazardous constituents of nuclear wastes. Also during a nuclear/radiological emergency, workers as well as members of the public may get internally contaminated with Sr. Hence, a truly rapid radio-bioassay method will be needed to screen a large number of people for assessment of internal contamination and facilitate decision making on subsequent medical intervention. The current precipitation method used at Bioassay Lab., BARC, Trombay is quite lengthy and laborious. Efforts are being made to optimize bioassay methods at BARC using solid extraction chromatography (SEC) technique for emergency response. The present work reports standardization of SEC using Sr-Spec (Sr-Specific, make Eichrom Technologies, Darien, Illinois, USA) resin for rapid estimation of Sr in urine samples. Adsorbed Sr is eluted from the resin using 0.05M HNO 3 , precipitated as carbonate and estimated using a low background gas flow Geiger-Muller counter (make ECIL, Hyderabad, India). The average recovery of stable Sr is ~80% and comparable to radioactive recovery observed in spiked samples. The minimum detectable activity (MDA) achieved by this technique is ~4 mBq/mL for 90 Sr that is well below the required generic emergency action level of 19 Bq for 20 mL urine sample. The advantage of this method is its simplicity, fast turnaround time and an increase in the sample throughput.

Concentration of HCB incallinectes sapidusfrom the calcasieu estuary, Louisiana

Abstract Blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) were collected from several areas in the estuary, and edible tissues were analyzed for the organic compound hexachlorobenzene (HCB). Hexachlorobenzene was established as an indicator of industrial chemical contamination by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (LDHH). This organization used the FDA interim guideline concentration of 0.5 ppm HCB in fatty tissue of beef to develop an emergency action level of 0.060 ppm (60 ppb) for edible seafood. In this study, an average HCB tissue concentration of 40 ppb was found in the Calcasieu Estuary. There was no significant difference in concentrations between sampling locations. However, the range in HCB concentrations varied among samples, with some analyses yielding tissue concentrations greater than the emergency action level of 60 ppb.