An analysis of evaluation options for nuclear accidents.

Includes 3 figs; 3 appendices and tables

In this report we consider the threat posed by the accidental release of radionuclides from a nuclear power plant. The reports objective is to establish relationships between radiation dose and the cost of evacuation under a wide variety of conditions. The dose can almost always be reduced by evacuating the population from a larger area. However extending the evacuation zone outward will cause evacuation costs to increase. The purpose of this analysis was to provide the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a data base for evaluating whether implementation costs and risks averted could be used to justify evacuation at lower doses than would be required based on acceptable risk of health effects alone. The procedures used and results of these analyses are being made available as background information for use by others. In this report we develop cost / dose relationships for 54 scenarios that are based upon the severity of the reactor accident, meteorological conditions during the release of radionuclides into the environment, and the angular width of the evacuation zone. The 54 scenarios are derived from combinations of three accident severity levels, six meteorological conditions and evacuation zone widths of 70 degrees, 90 degrees and 180 degrees