Title: Assessment of radiation safety perimeter for a radiological emergency management involving RDD explosion in metropolitan area, based on Gaussian dispersion model

Authors: Alok Pandey; Hong Suk Kim

Addresses: Radiological Safety Division, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Niyamak Bhavan, Anushakti Nagar, Mumbai 400094, India ' Radiological Emergency Preparedness Department, Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, 62 Gwahak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34142, South Korea

Abstract: In the event of a radiological dispersion device (RDD) explosion, a safety perimeter is the important factor to restrict the public in the area of high radiation exposure. Establishment of the safety perimeter to initiate emergency actions by the emergency management team is a crucial task, in a very short time and with very limited information about the explosion. The safety perimeters in case of RDD explosion have been evaluated in this study, on the basis of internationally recommended ambient dose rate, in different formulated scenarios with ¹³⁷Cs, ⁶⁰Co and ⁹⁰Sr sources with different quantities of explosive. Result shows the safety perimeter is less for higher explosive quantity for all the sources. The evaluated perimeters are found to be less than reference generic values, for RDD scenarios involving ¹³⁷Cs and ⁹⁰Sr sources. However for ⁶⁰Co source, the evaluated safety perimeters are found to be about 1.4-2.0 times higher than the reference generic perimeter.

Keywords: Gaussian dispersion modelling; safety perimeters; emergency management; radiation exposure; radiological dispersion devices; RDD explosions; orphan radioactive sources; metropolitan areas; radiological emergencies; explosive quantity; terrorist attacks; radiological weapons; safety cordons; terrorism.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEM.2015.074046

International Journal of Emergency Management, 2015 Vol.11 No.4, pp.320 - 329

Received: 05 Mar 2015
Accepted: 23 Sep 2015
Published online: 03 Jan 2016 *

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