~U PTJI~CNUREG/CR-69810S0 SAN D2008-1776P United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission ProtectingPeople and the Environment ým~s an 'a fa ir~ Lairge Sca~a Ewacua~inss Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response AVAILABILITY OF REFERENCE MATERIALS IN NRC PUBLICATIONS NRC Reference Material Non-NRC Reference Material As of November 1999, you may electronically access Documents available from public and special technical NUREG-series publications and other NRC records at libraries include all open literature items, such as NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room at books, journal articles, and transactions, Federal http://www.nrc..ov/readinq-rm.html. Publicly released Registernotices, Federal and State legislation, and records include, to name a few, NUREG-series congressional reports. 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DISCLAIMER- This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the U.S. Government. Neither the U.S. Government nor any agency thereof, nor any employee, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for any third party's use, or the results of such use, of any .information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed in this publication, or represents that its use by such third party would not infringe privately owned rights. US.NR NUREG/CR-6981 *. U..NRCSAND02008-1 776P United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission ProtectingPeople and the Environment Assessment of Emergency Response Planning and Implementation for Large Scale Evacuations Manuscript Completed: August 20008 Date Published: October 2008 Prepared by J.A. Jones, F. Walton, and J.D. Smith' B. Wolshon, Associate Professor2 'Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque, NM 87175 Operated by Sandia Corporation for the U.S. Department of Energy 2Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA 70803 P. Milligan, NRC Technical Lead D. Johnson, NRC Project Manager NRC Job Code R3118 Office of Nuclear Security and-Incident Response Abstract Evacuation is a key protective action element in the emergency preparedness plans for nuclear power plants (NPPs). Following the devastating hurricane season of 2005, the nation recognized the need to review emergency response planning. The NRC has sponsored this study to assess Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, as well as other large scale evacuations from which lessons learned may further enhance the emergency preparedness program for radiological emergencies at NPPs. Evacuations related to these incidents have brought to light issues that have not been previously encountered during large scale evacuations. The knowledge gained from studying 11 large scale evacuations is used to determine if the emergency planning activities were effective in managing the response effort. The 11 incidents covered wide geographical areas and affected 14 NPP Emergency Planning Zones (EPZs). None of the evacuations were related to the NPPs. Discussions with emergency response personnel confirmed that response to many of these incidents benefitted from the use of some of the emergency planning elements developed for the EPZs. Research of evacuations such as these provides an opportunity to understand contributing factors that support the effectiveness of emergency response activities. A key finding of this study is that emergency planning for NPPs has substantially anticipated and addressed the issues identified in the large scale evacuations researched. Insights and lessons learned are identified, and suggestions are provided for possible enhancements to the NRC and FEMA emergency preparedness program. Paperwork Reduction Act Statement The information collections contained in this NUREG are covered by the requirements of 10 CFR Part 50, which were approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), approval number 3150-0011. Public Protection Notification The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a request for information or an information collection requirement unless the requesting document displays a currently valid OMB control number. iii Table of Contents Page A b stra ct . ii T able of C ontents .............................................. ............... v Executive Sum m ary ........................................................... vii A cknow ledgm ents ... ........................................................ xi A cronym s ......................................... .......................... xiii 1.0 Introduction ....................................................... 1 1.1 O bjective and Scope ... .......................................... 3 1.2 B ackground ..................................................... 4 2.0 Methodology ........................................................... 5 2.1 Selection of Incidents .............................................. 5 2.2 D ata G athering ................................................... 6 2.3 Field Investigation ................................................ 7 2.4 Analysis of Incident Response Elements ............................ 8 2.5 Comparative Assessment .......................................... 8 3.0 Evacuation Case Study Overviews ...................................... 9 3.1 Hurricane Georges (1998) ........................................... 9 3.2 Southern California W ildfires (2003) ................................. 10 3.3 Hurricane Ivan (2004) ............................................ 11 3.4 Chemical Fire, Romulus, Michigan (2005) ............................ 12 3.5 Hurricane Katrina (2005) .......................................... 12 3.6 Hurricane Rita (2005) ............................................. 14 3.7 Hurricane W ilm a (2005) ........................................... 16 3.8 New England Flooding (2006) ...................................... 17 3.9 Chemical Fire, Apex, North Carolina (2006) ........................... 17 3.10 Hawaii Earthquakes (2006) ......................................... 18 3.11 California Fires (2007) ..... .................................. 19 3.12 Emergency Planning Around Nuclear Power Plants ..................... 19 3.13 Case Study Summary ......................................... 20 4.0 Analysis of Incident Response Elements ................................... 21 4.1 Planning .................................................. 22 4.2 Im plem entation ........................... ...................... 32 4.3 Summary of Analysis of Incident Response Elements .... .............. 44 5.0 NRC and FEMA Emergency Preparedness Program .......................... 47 V 5.1 Introduction .............................................. 47 5.2 Regulatory and Guidance Document Review