Federal regulations require nuclear power plant (NPP) licensees to be able to alert and notify the public living within a 10-mile radius of the plant in the event of an emergency. Most NPP licensees rely on outdoor emergency siren systems to alert the public, and then television and radio stations to notify the public. Together this system is referred to as an Alert and Notification System (ANS). NPP licensees need to demonstrate to the federal regulators that the sirens are audible in all populated areas of the 10-mile radius. KLD has helped many licensees by building detailed acoustical models, measuring sound levels (near-field and far-field tests in accordance with ISO standards) to calibrate the models, and ultimately modeling the sound output within the 10-mile radius to identify if there are any gaps in coverage.
- Siren population tool – KLD has developed a Microsoft Excel based tool to estimate the population impacted if a siren or group of sirens fails for nearly every active NPP in the U.S.
- Modifications to siren system – using acoustical models, KLD can identify whether sirens are redundant (complete overlap of populated areas by neighboring sirens) and can therefore be removed, or whether sirens need to be added to address gaps in siren coverage
- ANS design reports – NPP licensees are required to have an ANS design report to describe their ANS in detail. In recent years, many licensees are transitioning from the traditional siren and television/radio station system to a system comprised of FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), wireless emergency alerts (WEA) sent to mobile devices, and the Emergency Alert System (EAS) broadcasted to television and radio stations. KLD has helped several NPP licensees revise their ANS design report to account for these significant changes to their ANS.
- Backup alert and notification routes – several NPP licensees rely on emergency vehicles driving through neighborhoods with sirens blaring and a public address system to notify the public of an emergency as a backup to their siren system. KLD has developed backup alert and notification routes for several NPP licensees to ensure that all population is covered.