August 05, 2008 Email Print Talk BackRegisterBookmarkWhat's This

Emergency planning for RDD and IND incidents

Most radiological emergency planning has been conducted to respond to potential nuclear power plant accidents. Radiological Dispersal Device and Improvised Nuclear Device incidents differ from a nuclear power plant accident in several ways, and response planning should take these differences into account:

1. The severity of an IND incident would be dramatically greater than any nuclear power plant accident. An IND would have grave consequences for the human population and create a large radius of severe damage from blast and fires, which could not occur in a nuclear power plant accident.
   
2. The radiological release from an RDD or IND may start without any advance warning and would likely have a relatively short duration. In a major nuclear power plant accident, there is likely to be several hours or days of warning before the release starts, and the release is likely to be drawn out over many hours. This difference means that most early phase, and some intermediate phase, protective action decisions, which may be made in a timely fashion during power plant incidents, must be made much more quickly (and with less information) in an RDD or IND incident if they are to
   be effective.
   
3. An RDD or IND incident is more likely to occur in a major city center with a large population. Because of the rural setting in which many nuclear facilities are located, the lower number and density of people affected by a nuclear plant incident would be less, making evacuations much moremanageable, and the amount of critical infrastructure impacted is also likely to be smaller.
   
4. Large nuclear facilities have detailed emergency plans developed over years that are periodically exercised including specified protective actions, evacuation routes, and methods to quickly alert the public of the actions to take. This would not be the case for an RDD or IND incident. This level of radiological emergency planning typically does not exist in most cities and towns without nearby nuclear facilities.
   
5. The radioactive material releases from a nuclear power plant incident would be well known in advance based on reactor operational characteristics.

Read: Final RDD and IND Guidance from the DHS (pdf)