An emergency planning zone is the area around a facility within which detailed plans exist for warning, sheltering, evacuation and food controls. US plants have a plume exposure zone of about 10 miles and an ingestion zone of about 50 miles. International practice uses a precautionary action zone of a few kilometres, where actions start before any release, and an urgent protective action planning zone out to roughly 15 to 30 km.
Sirens across the whole EPZ sounded for the drill, two in the north sector failed to rotate.
The zone boundary is a planning line, not a safety line; protective actions can stop short of it or reach beyond it as conditions demand.
Also heard as
- emergency planning zone
Related terms
Sheltering
A protective action in which people stay indoors with doors and windows shut to reduce dose from a passing plume.
KI
Potassium iodide: stable iodine tablets taken to block the thyroid from absorbing radioactive iodine.
Plume
The cloud of radioactive gases and particles carried downwind from a release.
Emergency classification
The graded levels used to declare a nuclear plant emergency, each triggering a defined response.