Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
An International Atomic Energy Agency committee, chaired by Mike Lindell, a faculty fellow at Texas A&M's Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center, is drafting a paper that will provide guidance for operators of nuclear and radiological facilities when a natural disaster strikes.
Lindell, who is also a professor of urban planning at Texas A&M, joined experts for a series of meetings spanning a week in February at the United Nations' Vienna International Centre to begin work on the safety report titled "Arrangements for Response to Radiation Emergencies Caused by Natural Disasters."
The group, consisting of an IAEA staff member from Japan, nuclear regulators from the Slovak Republic and Hungary, and a member of a physics institute in Slovenia, refined the report's initial outline, produced preliminary drafts of its five chapters, and identified topics needing further work before their next meeting.
The report is being prepared for operators throughout the world of commercial nuclear power plants and research reactors, medical and dental clinics and industrial plants employing X-ray equipment.
When completed, the report will identify how various natural hazards might cause radiation releases from facilities or impair an emergency response to a radiation emergency that has occurred due to a natural disaster.
The report will also describe how facility operators should prepare for and respond to natural hazards by working with their local and national emergency management authorities.
Over the next two years, the group plans to hold three additional meetings drafting and reviewing the report, and approving it for distribution to IAEA member states.
- Posted: Mar. 12, 2010 -
Mike Lindell
