I - 1 Nuclear Plant Situation Crisis Prevention, Response for the Baltic States: Organizations, Policies and Procedures Nuclear Plant Crisis I - 2 Nuclear Plant Situation Nuclear Plant Crisis Objective - to understand a crisis in the context of a free (and global) press Focus - public information in a very rapidly developing and dangerous situation I - 3 Nuclear Plant Situation Planning for a nuclear crisis. Planning for a nuclear crisis. Initial Situation Update #1 Nuclear Plant Disaster Nuclear event Lessons for crisis prevention and response Lessons for crisis prevention and response BackgroundBackground I - 4 Nuclear Plant Situation Most Dangerous Reactors: A Compendium of Reactor Risk Assessments Units 1 & 2 Reactors remain unstable and difficult to control and rely heavily on operator intervention to keep things from going out of kilter. Units 1& 2... Nuclear Plant Disaster Background I - 5 Nuclear Plant Situation Chernobyl Timeline Start of Safety Test 1986 April 25 Explosion Fire Fighters Arrive April April 28 Fallout Reaches Belarus & Baltics 0130 Fallout Reaches Sweden & Poland May 2 Fallout Reaches UK Reactor Entombment I - 6 Nuclear Plant Situation Most Known Least Known Least Dread Most Dread Nuclear Reactor Accidents Pesticides Microwave Ovens Skiing Vaccination Nerve Gas Accidents Nuclear Weapons (war) Auto Accidents Auto ExhaustAlcohol UncontrollableControllable Known to Science Not Known to Science Source: Paul Slovic Risk I - 7 Nuclear Plant Situation Powerplant 2 RBMK Reactors. Output of each: 4,800 thermal megawatts 1,500 electrical megawatts Produce 90% of Lestavias electricity. I - 8 Nuclear Plant Situation Emergency Levels Local emergency - within structures Plant emergency - within the sanitary zone General emergency - beyond the sanitary zone I - 9 Nuclear Plant Situation International Nuclear Event Scale Level 1- Anomaly Level 2- Incident Level 3- Serious Incident Level 4 - Accident Without Significant Off-Site Risks Level 6 - Serious Accident Level 5 - Accident With Off-Site Risks Level 7 - Major Accident Chernobyl Three-Mile Island I - 10 Nuclear Plant Situation International Nuclear Event Scale Level 1- Anomaly... variation from permitted procedures Level 2 - Incident Level 3- Serious Incident... very small release of radioactivity Level 4 - Accident Without Significant Off-Site Risks Level 6 - Serious Accident... significant release of radioactivity; full implementation of local countermeasures Level 5 - Accident With Off-Site Risks... limited release of radioactivity; local countermeasures Level 7 - Major Accident... major release of radioactivity; widespread health and environmental effects I - 11 Nuclear Plant Situation 50km 30km 14,400 Inhabitants 18,000 Inhabitants Immediate Population I - 12 Nuclear Plant Situation 30km 54,000 Inhabitants 28,000 Animals General Emergency Immediate Evacuation Plan I - 13 Nuclear Plant Situation Global Coverage Normandy journalists Grenada journalists DESERT STORM journalists Hurricane Andrew (Florida) journalists 31 Satellite Transmission Trucks I - 14 Nuclear Plant Situation The higher the proportion of victims The more socially random the impact The more sudden the change for the worse The greater the sufferers are an identification group The more the victims are bleameless Likelihood of Outside Support The greater the communications about losses suffered by victims, the more identification Adopted from: Allen H. Barton, Social Organization Under Stress I - 15 Nuclear Plant Situation Public Affairs Lessons from Three Mile Island Incident Before you start something, you should have a goal. Isolate your decision makers from the media. Guard against influence from agencies not part of your plan. Do not over react to the situation. Tell the truth. Avoid trivia and trivial problems. Maintain maneuvering room. I - 16 Nuclear Plant Situation Well within design basis of plants emergency systems Local - Automatic reactor trip Critical plant protection system failed. Event If protection systems not restored within a few days, a potentially serious radiological release could occur. If protection systems not restored within a few days, a potentially serious radiological release could occur. May 5 I - 17 Nuclear Plant Situation IAEA Conventions Notify those states that are or may be affected...nature, time and location Provide information to minimize radiological consequences Notification Assistance Overall direction, control, coordination and supervision shall be the requesting state I - 18 Nuclear Plant Situation Notification Channels Civil Security Department Civil Security Department Powerplant World Meteorological Organization World Meteorological Organization World Health Organization World Health Organization Food and Agriculture Organization Food and Agriculture Organization UN Environment Program UN Environment Program UN High Commission for Refugees (above 250,000) UN High Commission for Refugees (above 250,000) Non-Governmental Organizations Non-Governmental Organizations International Atomic Energy Agency International Atomic Energy Agency Member/Affected States Member/Affected States I - 19 Nuclear Plant Situation Event Update May Local - Automatic reactor trip Critical plant protection system failed. May Severe damage...radiological release.