Geospatial Evaluation of Major Public Safety-related Infrastructure in the Event of an Accidental Radionuclide Release in South Carolina

Geospatial Evaluation of Major Public Safety-related Infrastructure in the event of an Accidental Radionuclide Release in South Carolina Isoken T Aighewi and Helen Tamboue Benedict College, Department of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Health Sciences, 1600 Harden Street, Columbia, SC 29204 ABSTRACT Recent nuclear incidents in the U.S and elsewhere such as the 2010 Yankee nuclear reactor leakage in Vermont, the recent wild fire that threatened the Los Alamos National laboratory in New Mexico in 2011 and the Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011 have brought about new concerns and discussion about how safe and prepared Americans living near nuclear installations are.

The United States have 65 operating nuclear plants with 104 commercial reactors, of which four operating plants are in South Carolina. Although site-specific emergency response plans for nuclear plant accident exist for communities in the immediate vicinity of nuclear plants, the ever-changing demography could render those plans ineffective overt time. This study was initiated to evaluate the present state of vulnerability of populations residing near one of the four nuclear installations in South Carolina-The Savanna River Site (SRS). Using Geospatial techniques, we evaluated populations at risk living within 25km and 50km radius of the installation, number of health facilities, major highways for evacuation during emergency-including their respective 2010 vehicle traffic loads (AADT).


The result shows that in the event of a nuclear emergency resulting in mass release of radionuclide, 12, 780 people in six towns in the immediate vicinity of the SRS will be at risk. However, 295,545 people will be affected if up to 50km radius is considered-based on the latest U.S 2010 census. Only one health facility is located within the immediate vicinity for emergency treatment and 15 within 50km radius of the site. For Emergency evacuation, Northeast bound U.S highway 278 to Georgia state line in Aiken county, SC has a higher traffic load compared to the Southwest bound alternative of the same limited access highway (AADT of 15,200 compared to 13, 800) leading to highway S-68. For the 50 km scenario however, several more evacuation routes are available. A comprehensive comparison of the different evacuation routes for the towns will be presented.