Degree Name
MS (Master of Science)
Program
Geosciences
Date of Award
5-2014
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Chris Gregg
Committee Members
Timothy Andrew Joyner, Ingrid Luffman
Abstract
Evacuation and sheltering behaviors were modeled for a hypothetical release of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) from Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) in Erwin, Tennessee. NFS down-blends weapons grade Cold War-era nuclear fuel material and processes highly-enriched uranium occasionally using UF6 onsite. Risk associated with a chemical release to the surrounding residential population was assessed by running 2 scenarios involving an airborne release of UF6 to compare evacuation and sheltering in place actions as effective survival strategies. Risk is minimal and evacuation is recommended for people within a 2-mile radius of the release point. Shelter in place actions are recommended for all critical facilities that have the potential to be affected by a chemical release plume. Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Radiological Assessment System for Consequence Analysis and Capacity-Aware Shortest Path Evacuation Routing in conjunction with a geographic information system proved to be valuable technological tools in determining evacuation routing and exposure zones.
Document Type
Thesis - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Harris, Joseph B., "Evacuation and Shelter in Place Modeling for a Release of Uranium Hexafluoride" (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2351. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2351
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.