Optimal transport route modelling during emergency evacuation for Rooppur nuclear power plant

Abstract

Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) is first nuclear power plant in Bangladesh. This present study considers the optimal transport routing for off-site emergency response after occurrence of a beyond design basis accident at RNPP. It focuses on the fastest emergency response and evacuation of vulnerable people during any radiological emergency. ArcGIS 10.5 software has been used for developing an optimal route model. 5km radial Precautionary Action Zone (PAZ), 10km radial Urgent Protective Action Planning Zone (UPZ) and 50km radial Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) have been established according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safety guidelines. Real time road network inside the emergency zones has been generated in ArcGIS on the basis of Open Street Map. Locations of 22 fire-stations, 20 government hospitals, 15 community clinics, 58 police stations and one airport have been identified and mapped within the study boundary using Google Earth Pro software. Network analyst tool in ArcGIS has been used to find optimal routes for each type of emergency facilities. Typical Dijkastra’s algorithm has been applied for solving the road network and finding shortest route between nodes of road network. This model can find out the closest emergency facilities near RNPP which will help in effective decision making during an emergency. 5 closest fire stations, 5 closest government hospitals, 5 closest community clinics and 20 closest police stations have been identified by this study model. Optimal routes for these closest facilities have also been established by this model. By service area network analysis, it has been found that 4 fire stations, 8 government hospitals, 15 community clinics and 14 police stations will be able to respond within the initial 30 minute emergency response time after occurrence of any beyond design basis nuclear accident at RNPP. Population data analysis for the PAZ and UPZ areas have been performed. By this analysis, 305309 population from 70770 households with 11.26.44 population density has been calculated for evacuation from the PAZ area after any nuclear accident at RNPP. It has been found that there is no existing fire station and government hospital within the PAZ area of RNPP. Existing emergency facilities have been insufficient to ensure effective and efficient evacuation for large and dense population at PAZ area of RNPP. On the basis of this finding, additional one hospital at PAZ area and 5 hospitals at UPZ area have been recommended to establish. Moreover, 4 fire stations have been recommended also within PAZ area of RNPP to ensure fast response and rescue operations during evacuation.