The Current Status and Effects of Proactive Communication on Accident Risks and Emergency Preparedness in the Context of Nuclear Power Stations

The Current Status and Effects of Proactive Communication on Accident Risks and Emergency Preparedness in the Context of Nuclear Power Stations PDF Author: Tsuyoshi Oshita
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780355133233
Category : Electronic dissertations
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description

The Current Status and Effects of Proactive Communication on Accident Risks and Emergency Preparedness in the Context of Nuclear Power Stations

The Current Status and Effects of Proactive Communication on Accident Risks and Emergency Preparedness in the Context of Nuclear Power Stations PDF Author: Tsuyoshi Oshita
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780355133233
Category : Electronic dissertations
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description


Managing Nuclear Accidents

Managing Nuclear Accidents PDF Author: Dominic Golding
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429715501
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 101

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Book Description
In 1986, the Three Mile Island Public Health Fund commissioned a national team of researchers to prepare an alternative emergency plan for the region around the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. This nontechnical book, addressed to emergency workers, the public and policymakers, presents the results of their research in the form of a bold plan that is applicable to any nuclear plant emergency. It builds on the principles that local knowledge is valuable, not unsophisticated, that communities are adaptive, not inflexible, and that information must be made available and accessible to the people who most need it.

Preparing For Nuclear Power Plant Accidents

Preparing For Nuclear Power Plant Accidents PDF Author: Dominic Golding
Publisher: Westview Press
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 560

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Book Description
This book appraises the current understanding of nuclear power plant accidents and the challenges posed to emergency planners. The contributors address the crucial need for real-time monitoring of both the development of the accident and the dispersion of radiation into the atmosphere.

Emergency Preparedness at Nuclear Power Plants

Emergency Preparedness at Nuclear Power Plants PDF Author: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 5

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Book Description
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reexamined the role of emergency preparedness (EP) for protecting the public near nuclear power plants following the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in 1979. The accident showed the need for improved planning, response, and communication by federal, state, and local governments to deal with reactor accidents. Although the NRC remained vigilant over the years, the events of September 11, 2001, prompted a new focus on emergency preparedness and a further review of the threat environment. The NRC now considers new threat scenarios and protections in emergency preparedness in light of the threat of terrorist attacks. Nuclear power plant owners, government agencies, State and local officials, as well as thousands of volunteers and first responders have worked together for more than 20 years to create a system of emergency preparedness and response that will serve the public well in the unlikely event of an emergency. The nuclear power plants' emergency plans include preparations for evacuation, sheltering, or other actions to protect the residents near nuclear power plants in the event of a serious incident. Since commercial nuclear power plants began operating in the United States, there have been no physical injuries or fatalities from exposure to radiation from the plants among members of the U.S. public. Even the country's worst nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island resulted in no identifiable health impacts.

Communicating During and After a Nuclear Power Plant Incident

Communicating During and After a Nuclear Power Plant Incident PDF Author: Federal Emergency Managem Agency (Fema)
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN: 9781793952790
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
This federal emergency action document provides communications guidance for domestic nuclear power plant (NPP) incidents, including sample text and suggested answers to anticipated public and media questions. This document also provides background information explaining roles and responsibilities across all levels of government during an NPP incident. While primarily created for Federal leaders who will speak to the public, this document should also complement the routinely exercised communication materials used by State, local, and tribal officials.The Principal Level Exercise 3-10, a cabinet level exercise with a NPP incident as the focus, highlighted the importance of communicating timely and accurate information to people potentially at risk from an NPP incident. Providing information on avoiding radiation, saving lives, protecting property, or calming fears requires the delivery of coordinated, prompt, reliable, and actionable information to the whole community through the use of clear, consistent, accessible, and culturally and linguistically appropriate methods that will increase public understanding and encourage people to take practical steps to protect themselves.In the United States, Federal, State, local, and tribal officials share responsibility for coordinating and communicating information to the public for a NPP incident. State, local, and tribal authorities possess the primary responsibility for making protective action decisions and communicating health and safety instructions to their affected populations. As laid out in the National Response Framework (NRF), a number of Federal agencies also play an important role in responding as well as communicating and coordinating emergency public information with State, local, and tribal agencies. This guidance document serves as a resource for communicators who provide information to the public, the news media, and other stakeholders during and after a NPP incident.Public officials, incident managers, and their spokespersons will provide specific and frequent information updates. These updates will cover what has occurred, how to protect people, actions taken to mitigate the incident, what residents can expect in the future, and other details. These communications will often originate from a Joint Information Center (JIC) established near the incident site. National spokespersons will reinforce the actions of local and State decision-makers and build confidence and trust that all levels of government engage in every possible way in order to resolve the situation and protect the public.A broad interagency group of communication experts, convened under the Federal Radiological Preparedness Coordinating Committee (FRPCC), developed the guidance in this document, with assistance from State and local communicators. The FRPCC will continue to maintain this guidance, which employs effective risk communication strategies based on proven communications principles.

Risk-informed Public Safety Policy for Seismic Events in the Vicinity of a Nuclear Power Plant

Risk-informed Public Safety Policy for Seismic Events in the Vicinity of a Nuclear Power Plant PDF Author: Olubukola Afolayan Jejeloye
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 149

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Book Description
Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) are potentially vulnerable to accidents, which can either be internally or externally initiated. External events include natural events like tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes. The purpose of this thesis is to understand the characteristics of public risks arising due to a severe external event, in this case an earthquake, which affects the public both directly and via damage to a nuclear power plant. The possibility of developing a comparison basis for the risks from these two events is also investigated. Using the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant PRA as a case study, consequences of a seismically induced nuclear risk are evaluated. Bases of comparison with direct seismic risks in Seabrook and Boston, calculated using FEMA's HAZUS program, are then analyzed. Results obtained show that the nuclear risks contribute little to the background risks from the direct earthquakes. Some consequences such as prompt fatality from the direct effect of earthquakes are 100 to 500 times bigger than the risks from the seismically induced nuclear risks at different magnitudes of earthquakes. Other consequences used for comparison include injuries and economic damage. Comparative analyses of the direct earthquake risks and the seismically induced nuclear risks present a good means of communicating the risks posed to the public. Easily understandable, these comparative analyses can be utilized in making societal decisions about risks. Based on the results from the comparisons, risk informed policies for keeping the seismically induced nuclear risks low are proposed, including keeping the ratio of the nuclear risks to the direct effect risks to a level based on societal decisions. The results and proposals obtained were presented to a panel of experts who also suggested the use of the 3-region approach in making the nuclear power plants safe. Considering events like the Turkey Point NPP experience with Hurricane Andrew, existing plans in place, such as communication and transportation after a major event, are considered. Noting that an earthquake that is strong enough to damage a NPP will affect much of the infrastructure needed to carry out emergency plans, means of strengthening the plans were evaluated. It was concluded that there has to be more cooperation among the different levels of government and the NPPs should be allowed a more active role in the policy and plan development for the safety of the public in their vicinity.

Resilience: A New Paradigm of Nuclear Safety

Resilience: A New Paradigm of Nuclear Safety PDF Author: Joonhong Ahn
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319587684
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
This book is published open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book summarizes presentations and discussions from the two-day international workshop held at UC Berkeley in March 2015, and derives questions to be addressed in multi-disciplinary research toward a new paradigm of nuclear safety. The consequences of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in March 2011 have fuelled the debate on nuclear safety: while there were no casualties due to radiation, there was substantial damage to local communities. The lack of common understanding of the basics of environmental and radiological sciences has made it difficult for stakeholders to develop effective strategies to accelerate recovery, and this is compounded by a lack of effective decision-making due to the eroded public trust in the government and operators. Recognizing that making a society resilient and achieving higher levels of safety relies on public participation in and feedback on decision-making, the book focuses on risk perception and mitigation in its discussion of the development of resilient communities.

Communicating in a Crisis

Communicating in a Crisis PDF Author: Robert DeMartino
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1437903487
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description
A resource for public officials on the basic tenets of effective communications generally and on working with the news media specifically. Focuses on providing public officials with a brief orientation and perspective on the media and how they think and work, and on the public as the end-recipient of info.; concise presentations of techniques for responding to and cooperating with the media in conveying info. and delivering messages, before, during, and after a public health crisis; a practical guide to the tools of the trade of media relations and public communications; and strategies and tactics for addressing the probable opportunities and the possible challenges that are likely to arise as a consequence of such communication initiatives. Ill.

Nuclear Regulation

Nuclear Regulation PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Emergency management
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, emergency preparedness at nuclear power plants has become of heightened concern. Currently, 104 commercial nuclear power plants operate at 64 sites in 32 states and provide about 20 percent of the nation's electricity. In July 2001, GAO reported on emergency preparedness at the Indian Point 2 nuclear power plant in New York State. This testimony discusses GAO's findings and recommendations in that report and the progress the plant, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have made in addressing these problems. GAO also provides its thoughts on the findings of a soon-to-be-issued report (the Witt report) on emergency preparedness at Indian Point and the Millstone nuclear power plant in Connecticut, and the implications of that report for plants nationwide. Since 2001, the Entergy Corporation has assumed ownership of the Indian Point 2 plant from the Consolidated Edison Company of New York (ConEd). In 2001, GAO reported that, over the years, NRC had identified a number of emergency preparedness weaknesses at Indian Point 2 that had gone largely uncorrected. ConEd had some corrective actions underway before a 2000 event raised the possibility of a leak of radioactively contaminated water into the environment. ConEd took other actions to address problems during this event. According to NRC, more than a year later, the plant still had problems similar to those previously identified--particularly in the pager system for activating emergency personnel. However, NRC, in commenting on a draft of GAO's report, stated that ConEd's emergency preparedness program could protect the public. Four counties responsible for responding to a radiological emergency at Indian Point 2 had, with the state and ConEd, developed a new form to better document the nature and seriousness of any radioactive release and thus avoid the confusion that occurred during the February 2000 event. Because they are the first responders in any radiological emergency, county officials wanted NRC and FEMA to communicate more with them in nonemergency situations, in addition to communicating through the states. However, NRC and FEMA primarily rely on the states to communicate with local jurisdictions. Since GAO's 2001 report, NRC has found that emergency preparedness weaknesses have continued. For example, NRC reported that, during an emergency exercise in the fall of 2002, the facility gave out unclear information about the release of radioactive materials, which had also happened during the February 2000 event. Similarly, in terms of communicating with the surrounding jurisdictions, little has changed, according to county officials. County officials told GAO that a videoconference system--promised to ensure prompt meetings and better communication between the plant's technical representatives and the counties--had not been installed. In addition, NRC and FEMA continue to work primarily with the states in nonemergency situations. Although they note that there are avenues for public participation, none of these is exclusively for the county governments. GAO did not evaluate the draft Witt report or verify the accuracy of its findings. The draft Witt report is a much larger, more technical assessment than the 2001 GAO report. While both reports point out difficulties in communications and planning inadequacies, the draft Witt report concludes that the current radiological response system and capabilities are not adequate to protect the public from an unacceptable dose of radiation in the event of a release from Indian Point, especially if the release is faster or larger than the release for which the programs are typically designed. GAO is aware that, in commenting on a draft of the Witt report, FEMA disagreed with some of the issues raised but said the report highlights several issues worth considering to improve emergency preparedness in the communities around Indian Point and nationwide. NRC concluded that the draft report gives "undue weight" to the impact of a terrorist attack.

Criteria for Preparation and Evaluation of Radiological Emergency Response Plans and Nuclear Power Plants

Criteria for Preparation and Evaluation of Radiological Emergency Response Plans and Nuclear Power Plants PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Assistance in emergencies
Languages : en
Pages : 134

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Book Description