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Emergency Planning Zones
Emergency response planning involves two "zones"--the "Plume Zone" and the "Ingestion Zone."
- Plume Zone
The Plume Zone is within a 10-mile or smaller radius of the potential accident site. Each Hanford facility has its own Plume Zone. The size is based on how far a particular substance could be dispersed in a particular form. The hazard is radioactive materials in an invisible cloud or plume, carried from the accident by the wind.
People can be at risk if they are exposed to the plume or inhale the radioactive materials in it. To avoid the plume, people within the Plume Zone must take shelter or leave the area.
Beyond the Plume Zone, the plume still carries widely scattered radioactive materials which, in time, will be left on the earth´s surface. A plume doesn´t stay small, compact or intact. It´s diluted by clean air and dissipated by changing winds.
- Ingestion Zone
The Ingestion Zone goes out to 50 miles. It´s the area within which people could be at risk if they eat or drink contaminated food or water.
Contamination occurs when airborne radioactive materials come to rest on crops, pasture, gardens, lakes and rivers. For example, people can be affected if they drink milk from a cow that ate contaminated grass.
Beyond 50 miles, it´s believed that the risk of contamination from a nuclear accident´s "fallout" is very slight. The health effects of exposure to radioactive material vary from person to person. In general, exposure is measured by:
The kind of radioactive materials involved in the contamination; How much radioactivity was in the exposure; How long the person was exposed; and The person´s lifetime accumulation of radiation exposure
Triggering the State/County Emergency Response
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Nuclear Safety Home
Hanford Emergency Home
Hanford Emergency Preparedness in Oregon - Brochure
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