1 Introduction
1.1 Purpose
This Guideline is formulated according to Regulation on the Safety Supervision and Management of Civil Nuclear Facilities of the People's Republic of China and Regulation on Emergency Management of Nuclear Accidents at Nuclear Power Plants as well as other laws and regulations of nuclear safety with a view to providing guidance for civil nuclear fuel cycle facilities (hereinafter referred to as nuclear fuel cycle facilities) operating entities formulating emergency plan, carrying out emergency preparedness and conducting emergency response actions in case of accident.
This Guideline is guidance document; when formulating emergency plan and conducting emergency response actions, the operating entities may not adopt the scheme and method recommended in this Guideline, but they must prove that the adopted scheme and method have the safety level not inferior to that of this Guideline to the national nuclear safety supervision and control department.
1.2 Scope
This Guideline is applicable to emergency plan, emergency preparedness and emergency response of entities operating civil nuclear fuel cycle facilities (including facilities for uranium mining and metallurgy, conversion, isotope separation, element manufacture and fuel reprocessing as well as radioactive waste treatment and disposal facilities) excepting nuclear reactor as well as examination and evaluation of national nuclear safety supervision and control department on the emergency plan of operating entities.
This Guideline proposes basic requirements on the emergency plan formulation of the nuclear fuel cycle facilities operating entities and guiding suggestions on emergency plan contents and compiling format as well as emergency preparedness and emergency response capability maintenance of operating entities, and it also provides guiding principle for emergency plan implementation procedure compilation.
As for different types of nuclear fuel cycle facilities, vast differences exist in quantity, physical chemistry form, nuclide composition, radioactive activity and characteristic of nuclear material and other radioactive substances processed, treated or stored by them, and the characteristics of their process technology, work engineering facilities and operation mode are different, therefore, the property of the possible nuclear accident existing in them and the radiological consequence may be very different. Thus, the requirements of their emergency plan, emergency preparedness and emergency response are different. This Guideline will not specially discuss the above-mentioned differences. In case the operating entities use this Guideline, they must carry out threat assessment and analysis in combination with the characteristics of the nuclear fuel cycle facilities and formulate emergency plan and emergency response scheme taking evaluation on various possible nuclear and radiation accident consequences as basis and referring to this Guideline.
2 Emergency Plan Formulation
2.1 Requirements of Emergency Preparedness and Emergency Response in Different Stages
2.1.1 Plant site selection stage
As for evaluation on the suitability of nuclear fuel cycle facility plant site, the emergency plan implementation capacity and feasibility of emergency plan implementation within the whole predicted lifetime of the nuclear fuel cycle facility plant site area shall be demonstrated according to the natural and social characteristics of the plant site.
2.1.2 Design and construction stage
In design and construction stage, the operating entities and organizations concerned shall analyze the accidental state (including severe accident) and its consequence of nuclear fuel cycle facility, arrange the emergency facilities, emergency equipment and emergency evacuation route in the plant, compile in-site emergency plan and implementation procedure, carry out corresponding emergency preparedness works (including completing construction of emergency facilities) and make emergency exercise plan.
In the chapters relevant to operation and management in Preliminary Safety Analysis Report (PSAR), preliminary scheme of emergency plan shall be proposed, and the contents are as follows: emergency plan purpose, laws and regulations it based on and application scope, frame of emergency organizations set by operating entities and their responsibilities, emergency planning zone preliminary measurement & calculation and its environment (population, road, traffic, etc.) overview, basic function and position of main emergency facilities and equipment and evacuation route; emergency resource and interface arrangement shall be described.
In case there is other nuclear facility in operating in the newly-built nuclear fuel cycle facility plant site, newly-built nuclear fuel cycle facilities operating entities and organizations concerned shall compile corresponding emergency preparedness procedure and carry out proper emergency preparedness in allusion to the potential accident of the nuclear facility in running.
2.1.3 Stage before initial charge
Emergency plan of operating entities shall serve as independent document after being examined by the competent departments, and it shall be submitted to the national nuclear safety supervision and control department for examination and approval together with final safety analysis report before initial trial run, and carried out with emergency exercise before charging according to those specified in this Guideline. Before operation, nuclear fuel cycle facilities operating entities shall complete all emergency preparedness.
2.1.4 Operation stage
Within the whole operation stage of the nuclear fuel cycle facility, emergency preparedness shall be always kept; in emergency state, the necessary facilities, equipment and communication systems shall be properly maintained and ready for use at any time; the nuclear emergency exercise shall be carried out periodically and the emergency plan shall be rechecked and revised.
In case the nuclear fuel cycle facility enters into emergency state, effectively implement the emergency response, timely report the accident conditions to the national nuclear safety supervision and control department and coordinate and cooperate with off-site emergency organizations so as to ensure the safety of workers, publics and environment.
2.1.5 Decommissioning stage
There shall be emergency plan contents in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facility Decommissioning Report, describing the possible emergency state and corresponding countermeasures during decommissioning period, considering the radiation hazards possibly generated by to-be-decommissioned nuclear fuel cycle facility and specifying that the operating entities are responsible for organization and emergency facilities controlling such hazards. Once accident occurs during decommissioning period, effectively implement emergency response so as to ensure the safety of workers, publics and environment.
2.2 Emergency Plan Formulation
Nuclear fuel cycle facilities operating entities must formulate the emergency plan according to the characteristics of this nuclear facility and the environmental conditions surrounding the plant site. The main contents of operating entities emergency plan include:
(1) General characteristics of nuclear fuel cycle facility (construction purpose; installation type; operation plan for permitted nuclear activity; main facilities and functions, etc.);
(2) General conditions of the plant site (geographical location and site area plan layout; population distribution surrounding the plant site; meteorological conditions of the plant site, traffic conditions, etc.);
(3) Emergency organization;
(4) Emergency state and emergency action level;
(5) Emergency planning zone;
(6) Emergency response facilities, equipment and apparatus;
(7) Emergency response and protective measures;
(8) Emergency termination and restoration action;
(9) Maintenance of emergency response capability;
(10) Record and report.
Appendix A of this Guideline proposes requirements and suggestions for format and content of nuclear fuel cycle facilities operating entities emergency plan, and the operating entities may compile emergency plan according to these suggestions. Due to the big difference of types, characteristics and surrounding environment of nuclear fuel cycle facilities, the operating entities may properly change the content and format specified in this Guideline, but it shall be ensured that emergency plan covers the main contents specified in this Guideline and that the changed content and format have been approved by the national nuclear safety supervision and control department.
2.3 Accident Considered in Emergency Plan
The emergency plan of the nuclear fuel cycle facilities operating entities is mainly in allusion to the potential nuclear accidents causing or possibly causing lose-control of radioactive substance release and thereby endangering worker or public health or environmental security or resulting in property loss. The range of the considered accidents shall cover expected operation conditions and accident conditions as well as the accident with lower occurrence probability while more serious consequence (including the severe accidents with environmental consequence more serious than that of the design basis accident). The operating entities shall carry out overall safety analysis and determine hypothetical accident spectrum (especially serious accident) and corresponding source term size suitable to this facility and used for emergency plan. Determination of accident range used for emergency plan may be partially based on the safety analysis report of the facilities, and further analysis shall be carried out as a supplementary. In the complementary analysis, it may be supposed that partial design and operating performances failure occurs, although such failure is improbable. Appendix C provides reference accidents of each main nuclear fuel cycle facility, which may be referred to by the operating entities during emergency plan formulation.
2.4 Emergency Plan Implementation Procedure
The operating entities shall compile various necessary emergency plan implementation procedures by reference to the guiding principles provided in Appendix B in this Guideline, including implementation procedures for implementing emergency response action and support procedures for properly carrying out emergency preparedness. These procedures shall provide the emergency work personnel with comprehensive and specific methods and procedures for implementing emergency plan and ensure that the emergency preparedness is carried out normatively and orderly and that the emergency plan is implemented concertedly and effectively.
It is not required to incorporate the implementation procedure into the emergency plan text; generally, the implementation procedure is not required to be provided to the national nuclear safety supervision and control department for examination and evaluation, either. But during emergency plan examination and evaluation as well as nuclear safety inspection, the national nuclear safety supervision and control department may inspect these procedure texts.
3 Emergency Organization
3.1 Emergency Organization of Operating Entities
3.1.1 The operating entities shall establish in-site emergency organization in line with the principle "active and compatible" on the basis of facility conventional operation organization, and the main responsibilities of the in-site emergency organization are as follows:
(1) Implementing the national guidelines and policies for nuclear emergency works;
(2) Formulating, revising and implementing in-site nuclear emergency plan and properly carrying out nuclear emergency preparedness;
(3) Determining the nuclear emergency state class and uniformly commanding the nuclear emergency response actions of the entity;
(4) Taking measures immediately in case of accident to relieve the accident consequence;
(5) Protecting the safety of the workers within the site area;
(6) Carrying out radiation monitoring;
(7) Timely reporting accident conditions to national and provincial (municipal) nuclear emergency organizations, competent departments and national nuclear safety supervision and control departments as well as the specified departments, and keeping close connection during the accident;
(8) Where it is possible that the nuclear facility is in off-site emergency state, suggesting entering into off-site emergency state and adopting off-site emergency protective measures;
(9) Cooperating with and helping the provincial (municipal) nuclear emergency organization to properly carry out nuclear emergency response works, as necessary.
3.1.2 Emergency organization of operating entities includes emergency command and all emergency action teams. The operating entities shall make clear the personnel composition, the task and the responsibility of each emergency response team participating in such actions as emergency preparedness, emergency response and emergency restoration in their emergency plans.
3.1.3 Emergency organization of operating entities shall possess the capacity for continuously working for 24-hour under all levels of emergency states.
3.2 Emergency Command
3.2.1 Emergency command is the leading and command organization of in-site emergency preparedness and emergency response and is responsible for contacting off-site emergency organization, superior competent department and national nuclear safety supervision and control department. Emergency command consists of main executives and technical directors as well as responsible persons from relevant departments (operation, maintenance, security & protection, safeguard, logistics, etc.) of the operating entities. A chief emergency commander (legal representative of the operating entity or its designated personnel) and several deputy chief commanders shall be arranged.
3.2.2 The emergency plan of operating entities shall explicitly specify the highest authority and the specific responsibility of the emergency command, including:
(1) Organizing to formulate and modify the emergency plan;
(2) Organizing to implement and inspect the emergency preparedness works of the operating entities;
(3) Announcing and terminating the emergency states other than the off-site emergency;
(4) Commanding to implement in-site emergency response actions; including
——Taking actions for controlling and relieving the accident;
——Adopting emergency protective actions for protecting in-site workers;
——Suggesting whether an off-site protective action for protecting the public is necessary;
——Reporting or announcing the nuclear emergency information to off-site emergency organizations at all levels, superior competent departments and national nuclear safety supervision and control departments, asking for nuclear emergency support or providing nuclear emergency support for off-site emergency organizations.
——Organizing and commanding in-site restoration actions.
3.3 Emergency Action Team
3.3.1 The operating entities shall establish emergency action teams with their responsibilities covering the following aspects according to the facility characteristics:
——Operation and manipulation of in-site systems;
——Evaluation of radiation measurement and consequence;
——Criticality safety evaluation;
——Protective action implementation (shelter, evacuation as well as personnel check, rescue and search, etc.);
——Medical rescue;
——Emergency communication;
——Fire protection and defense;
——Logistical support such as transportation as well as apparatus and material supply.
3.3.2 As for the emergency plan of the operating entities, it shall explicitly specify the emergency responsible person as well as his/her authority and responsibility of each emergency action team, and it shall also explicitly specify the replacement person of emergency responsible person as well as the replacement sequence, and list his/her name, telephone number and home address in relevant implementation procedure table.
3.4 Interface with Off-site Emergency Organization
3.4.1 The interfaces between emergency organizations of operating entities and off-site emergency organizations and their relevant departments (such departments as public security, fire protection, environment protection, emergency management, hygiene, civil defense and disaster relief management) shall be specified in the emergency plan, responsibility assignment shall be made clear, and special department or special personnel shall be arranged to be the liaison man contacting local emergency organizations.
3.4.2 If necessary, the emergency organization of the operating entities shall provide support to the local emergency organizations, including providing the data related to nuclear facility conditions, radiation monitoring and accident consequence prediction, suggest off-site protective action and provide other technical consultation according to the requirements of local emergency organizations.
3.4.3 If necessary, the emergency organization of operating entities may request the local emergency organizations to provide supports in such aspects as fire protection, public security, medical care and radiation monitoring to in-site emergency organization.
3.4.4 Interface to each technical support organization shall be properly carried out, the interrelationship and responsibility assignment shall be made clear, and, if necessary, specify the requirements on the technical support organization and the supports they shall provide in an agreement.
4 Emergency State and Emergency Action Level
4.1 Emergency State Classification
4.1.1 Four emergency classes
The emergency state is classified into four classes according to the severity of radiological consequence of event or accident possibly caused by the nuclear fuel cycle facility and the emergency response action need to be adopted, i.e., emergency standby, plant emergency, site area emergency and off-site emergency:
(1) Emergency standby: appear some specific conditions or events possibly hazarding to the nuclear facility safety, which indicates that the facility safety level is in uncertain or possibly obvious reduction state, and the facility relevant personnel are in alert positions.
(2) Plant emergency: facility safety level actually or potentially reduces largely, but the influence of event is limited to partial area within the plant or the site area and will not threat the off-site area; after announcing plant emergency, the operating entities implement emergency response actions according to the requirements of the emergency plan and the off-site emergency response organization is notified.
(3) Site area emergency: as for the facility, serious failure of the engineering safety facility may occur, the safety level reduces significantly, and the accident influence expands to the whole site area, while the off-site radiation exposure level will not exceed the intervention level except the area near the site area boundary. After announcing site area emergency, the operating entities shall rapidly take action to relieve the accident consequence and protect the personnel in the site area; the off-site emergency organization possibly adopts some emergency response actions (such as carrying out radiation monitoring) and properly carries out preparation for protective action implementation as required.
(4) Off-site emergency: accident influence exceeds the site area boundary, and the radiation exposure level of certain off-site area is greater than the intervention level. After off-site emergency is announced, take immediate actions to relieve the accident influence, implement in-site and off-site emergency protective actions and protect the workers and the public.
4.1.2 Basic characteristics and examples of emergency standby
4.1.2.1 This emergency state class means that the nuclear facility is with specific situation possibly causing potential accident hazard, and the protection level to workers is uncertain or possibly dramatically reduced. But generally, there is no radioactive release with obviously abnormality, and the operating entities have sufficient time to adopt organized preventative procedures and measures so as to prevent event from further deteriorating or escalating and avoid possible accident or relieve the influence.
4.1.2.2 Some equipment failures, internal or external human induced events (such as entity protection of facility is threatened or damaged due to explosive or riot) or severe natural disaster (flood, earthquake, typhoon, tsunami, tornado, etc.) may possibly cause the state of emergency standby.
4.1.2.3 After announcing that it is in emergency standby, the main response actions the emergency organization of the operating entities shall rapidly adopts are assessing and relieving accident and its consequence as well as properly improving the emergency preparedness level (such as: personnel related to the facility entering into preparedness state, stopping some unimportant routine works or activities in the facility temporarily, and properly carrying out various prevention works necessary for coping with event escalation); meanwhile, report the event property and severity to the national nuclear safety supervision and control department according to the established procedures.
4.1.3 Basic characteristics and examples of plant emergency
4.1.3.1 This emergency state class means that certain kind of accident has occurred or is expected to occur, and radiological consequence has been generated or expected to be generated in partial zone of site area. It means that the facility is in the state with very low protection level to workers; however, the evaluation indicates that the radiation hazards are limited to partial zone of site area (e.g. in some plants) and do not expanded to the whole site area, and they will not threat the off-site areas.
4.1.3.2 Accident analyzed in final safety analysis report and with the expected radiological consequence limited in plant or partial zone of the site area may possibly cause plant emergency state; fire or explosion occurred in plant and without radiological consequence out of the workshop belongs to this emergency state class.
4.1.3.3 After announcing that it is in plant emergency state, the emergency organization of operating entities shall firstly take such response actions as improving the facility operation state and effectively control and relieve accident and its consequence. Meanwhile, report the event property and severity to the national nuclear safety supervision and control department according to the established procedures, and inform the relevant off-site technical support organizations. Under the emergency state of this class, some protective actions may also be taken, e.g. evacuation or shelter of personnel near the accident site as well as access control of affected area.
4.1.4 Basic characteristics and examples of site area emergency
4.1.4.1 The emergency state of this class means that certain kind of accident has occurred or is expected to occur, and the radiological consequence has expanded or expected to expand to the whole site area, and it is expected that the dose nearby the site area boundary will reach the intervention level for which emergency protective action is adopted. It means that the facility is in the state with very low protection level to workers; however, the evaluation indicates that the radiation hazards are limited in the site area and the area nearby the site area boundary, and they will not threat the off-site areas.
4.1.4.2 Accident analyzed in final safety analysis report with the expected radiological consequence possibly involving the whole site area may possibly cause site area emergency state.
4.1.4.3 After announcing that it is in site area emergency state, the emergency organization of operating entities shall firstly take such response actions as improving the facility operation state and effectively control and relieve accident and its consequence. Meanwhile, report the event property and severity to the national nuclear safety supervision and control department and local government according to the established procedures, and inform the relevant off-site technical support organization. The necessary protective actions may possibly include immediately evacuating the personnel in the site area except those in control room or emergency command center, controlling incoming/outgoing and carrying out radiological consequence evaluation action (including monitoring the environment out of the site area).
4.1.5 Basic characteristics and examples of off-site emergency
4.1.5.1 The emergency state of this class means that certain kind of accident has occurred or is expected to occur, and the radiological consequence has expanded or expected to expand to the area out of the site area, and it is expected that the dose nearby the site area boundary will exceed the intervention level for which emergency protective action is adopted. Evaluation indicates that radiation hazards have threatened or expect to threaten the off-site area.
4.1.5.2 After announcing that it is in off-site emergency state, the emergency organization of operating entities shall firstly take such response actions as taking effective measures to control and relieve accident and its consequence. Meanwhile, report the event property and severity to the national nuclear safety supervision and control department and local government according to the established procedures, and inform the relevant off-site technical support organizations; suggest the local government to enter into off-site emergency and adopt protective actions for protecting the public. The necessary protective actions may possibly include immediately evacuating the personnel in the site area except those in control room or emergency command center, controlling incoming/outgoing and carrying out radiological consequence evaluation action (including monitoring the environment out of the site area).
4.2 Determination of Emergency State Class of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities
Emergency state class of nuclear fuel cycle facilities may include two classes (emergency standby and plant emergency), three classes (emergency standby, plant emergency and site area emergency) and even four classes (emergency standby, plant emergency, site area emergency and off-site emergency), because such conditions as type and characteristic of nuclear fuel cycle facilities are different. Therefore, the emergency state class possibly presenting of nuclear fuel cycle facilities must be determined through analysis and evaluation on nuclear accident possibly caused by this nuclear facility and its radiological consequence. It must be ensured that the established emergency state classification system can cover all the emergence states that the facility possibly presents.
As for the majority of Chinese nuclear fuel cycle facilities, generally, off-site emergency may not be considered; but as for facility with large potential hazards, off-site emergency may be necessary; refer to Appendix D for details.
As for nuclear fuel cycle facilities possibly releasing large amount of UF6, during determining the emergency state classification system, the chemical toxicity hazard of HF generated through the action of UF6 and air shall be considered.
4.3 Emergency Action Level
In the emergency plan or the emergency plan implementation procedure of the operating entities, various initial conditions possibly causing nuclear fuel cycle facilities presenting emergency states of all classes shall be proposed according to the design characteristics of nuclear fuel cycle facilities and the environmental characteristics of the plant site, and the criteria and standards for judging each emergency state shall be indicated.
The operating entities shall establish emergency action levels corresponding to emergency states at all levels according to the parameters relevant to facility and environment and influencing the security function of the nuclear fuel cycle facilities (e.g., safety of nuclear material system boundary, criticality safety characteristic, radiation level within site area and various natural disaster phenomena) and effluent emission level. And the operating entities shall propose preliminarily formulated emergency action level in initial charge approval letter application and submit revised emergency action level for examination and evaluation in operating license application. See Appendix D for partial examples of emergency action levels for judging emergency state of the nuclear fuel cycle facilities.
1 Introduction
1.1 Purpose
1.2 Scope
2 Emergency Plan Formulation
2.1 Requirements of Emergency Preparedness and Emergency Response in Different Stages
2.2 Emergency Plan Formulation
2.3 Accident Considered in Emergency Plan
2.4 Emergency Plan Implementation Procedure
3 Emergency Organization
3.1 Emergency Organization of Operating Entities
3.2 Emergency Command
3.3 Emergency Action Team
3.4 Interface with Off-site Emergency Organization
4 Emergency State and Emergency Action Level
4.1 Emergency State Classification
4.2 Determination of Emergency State Class of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities
4.3 Emergency Action Level
5 Emergency Planning Zone
5.1 General Requirements for Emergency Planning Zone Establishment
5.2 Determination of Emergency Planning Zone
6 Emergency Facilities and Emergency Equipment
6.1 Overview
6.2 Emergency Control Center
6.3 Control Room
6.4 Communication System
6.5 Monitoring and Evaluating Facilities and Equipment
6.6 Protective Equipment and Apparatus
6.7 First-Aid and Medical Facilities
6.8 Other Emergency Equipment and Goods and Materials
6.9 Emergency Evacuation Routes and Emergency Assembly Points
7 Emergency Response and Protective Measures
7.1 General
7.2 Intervention Principle and Intervention Level
7.3 Emergency Response Actions
7.4 Emergency Response Actions in Emergency States of All Classes
7.5 Evaluation Activity
7.6 Remedial Action
7.7 Protective Action
7.8 Emergency Exposure Control
7.9 Medical Rescue
8 Emergency Termination and Restoration Action
8.1 Termination of Emergency State
8.2 Restoration Actions
9 Maintenance of Emergency Response Capability
9.1 Training
9.2 Exercise
9.3 Maintenance of Emergency Facilities and Equipment
9.4 Deliberation and Modification of Emergency Plan
10 Record and Report
10.1 Record
10.2 Emergency Announcement and Report
10.3 Final Evaluation Report of Accident
Terminologies
Appendix A Brief Introduction of the Standard Format and Content for In-site Emergency Plan of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities
A.1 General Provisions
A.2 Overview of the Facilities and Their Environment
A.3 Emergency State Classification and Emergency Action Level
A.4 Emergency Organization
A.5 Emergency Planning Zone
A.6 Emergency Facilities and Equipment
A.7 Emergency Response and Protective Measures
A.8 Emergency Termination and Restoration Action
A.9 Maintenance of Emergency Capability
A.10 Record and Report
A.11 Appendix
Appendix B Brief Introduction of Execution Procedure for In-site Emergency Plan of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities
B.1 Emergency Starting Procedure
B.2 Procedure for Emergency Action
B.3 Auxiliary Procedure
Appendix C Reference Accidents for Emergency Plan of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities
Appendix D Examples of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities Emergency Action Level
