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Multicriteria Relocation Analysis of an Off-site Radioactive Monitoring Network for a Nuclear Power Plant

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Abstract

Due to increasing environmental consciousness in most countries, every utility that owns a commercial nuclear power plant has been required to have both an on-site and off-site emergency response plan since the 1980s. A radiation monitoring network, viewed as part of the emergency response plan, can provide information regarding the radiation dosage emitted from a nuclear power plant in a regular operational period and/or abnormal measurements in an emergency event. Such monitoring information might help field operators and decision-makers to provide accurate responses or make decisions to protect the public health and safety. This study aims to conduct an integrated simulation and optimization analysis looking for the relocation strategy of a long-term regular off-site monitoring network at a nuclear power plant. The planning goal is to downsize the current monitoring network but maintain its monitoring capacity as much as possible. The monitoring sensors considered in this study include the thermoluminescence dosimetry (TLD) and air sampling system (AP) simultaneously. It is designed for detecting the radionuclide accumulative concentration, the frequency of violation, and the possible population affected by a long-term impact in the surrounding area regularly while it can also be used in an accidental release event. With the aid of the calibrated Industrial Source Complex–Plume Rise Model Enhancements (ISC-PRIME) simulation model to track down the possible radionuclide diffusion, dispersion, transport, and transformation process in the atmospheric environment, a multiobjective evaluation process can be applied to achieve the screening of monitoring stations for the nuclear power plant located at Hengchun Peninsula, South Taiwan. To account for multiple objectives, this study calculated preference weights to linearly combine objective functions leading to decision-making with exposure assessment in an optimization context. Final suggestions should be useful for narrowing the set of scenarios that decision-makers need to consider in this relocation process.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the data reports cited and used in this study and the helpful comments provided by all anonymous referees.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, 32816, USA

    Ni-Bin Chang

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Kaohsiung, Nan-Tzu District 811, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Shu-Kuang Ning

  3. U-Tech Technology Corporation, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Jen-Chang Chen

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  1. Ni-Bin Chang
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  2. Shu-Kuang Ning
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  3. Jen-Chang Chen
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Correspondence to Ni-Bin Chang.

Appendix 1. Notation

Appendix 1. Notation

  • \( \ifmmode\expandafter\bar\else\expandafter\fi{C}_{j} \) The average environmental concentration of radiation measured or predicted at grid j within the time period T (μSv/h or Bq/m3)

  • \( d^{ + }_{i} ,d^{ - }_{i} \) The positive and negative deviational variables for goal programming (unitless)

  • B The upper bound of the total number of monitoring stations (unitless)

  • \( \ifmmode\expandafter\bar\else\expandafter\fi{C}_{j} ,\ifmmode\expandafter\bar\else\expandafter\fi{C}_{k} \) The average environmental concentration of radiation measured at grid j or k within the time period T, respectively (μSv/h or mBq/m3)

  • C tj , C tk The pollutant concentration measured at grid j and time t or at grid k and time t, respectively (μSv/h or mBq/m3)

  • D j The frequency of violation being detected or predicted at grid j (unitless)

  • G i,j The score of the jth objective assigned by assessing the ith similar project (unitless)

  • N The total number of grid divided in the study area (unitless)

  • P j The population that can be serviced if the grid j in the area is selected as the monitoring station (capita)

  • R c The cutoff value of spatial correlation coefficient (unitless)

  • R jk The spatial correlation coefficient between grid j and grid k with respect to the concerned pollutant (unitless)

  • W i The preference weights in decision analysis (unitless)

  • W min The minimum value of the preference weight required in the weight-matching process (unitless)

  • Y j The binary integer variable; it is equal to 1 if the grid i is selected as a monitoring station, 0 otherwise (unitless)

  • Z 1 The aggregated average environmental concentration of radiation over the simulated region in the whole year (μSv/year or mBq/year)

  • Z 2 The total numbers of violating the threshold limit value

  • Z 3 The total population that can be serviced by the designed monitoring network

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Chang, NB., Ning, SK. & Chen, JC. Multicriteria Relocation Analysis of an Off-site Radioactive Monitoring Network for a Nuclear Power Plant. Environmental Management 38, 197–217 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-005-0007-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-005-0007-7

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