Adequate Technologies for Wireless Real-Time Dose Rate Monitoring for Off-Site Emergency Management:

Authors

R. Dielmann, W. Bürkin

Abstract

In a nuclear disaster the efficiency of emergency management on-site as well as off-site is closely connected to the quality and reliability of the actual status information. Reliability and short response time of the data communication path are important in the early phase. In order to protect investment and minimize TCO (total cost of ownership) the dose rate measurement systems should also be adequate for the later-phase emergency management and rehabilitation of contaminated areas. Based on 3 yr of experience, the pros and cons of available GSM/GPRS/UMTS/TETRA (terrestrial trunked radio) and satellite-based technologies are compared with SkyLINK, a proprietary wireless network that is fully owned by the supervising authority or a nuclear installation. The European Commission's decision to opt for this state-of-the-art technology within the TACIS program fulfills the highest standards in terms of the following: independence from public communication lines; good data availability, including in rural areas and in emergency scenarios; fast installation, system startup and training (all done in up to 3 d); extreme mobility in emergency cases; high flexibility for changing tasks; a very high degree of autonomy; low operating and maintenance costs over a 10-yr lifetime; and long-term reliability of probes and the data management system. The GammaTRACER/SkyLINK systems installed around three Russian NPPs are operated by the concern Rosenergoatom. They are one example of other systems on a worldwide scale.

Meeting

This abstract was presented at the 37th Annual Midyear Meeting, "Air Monitoring and Internal Dosimetry", Homeland Security and Air Monitoring Session, 2/8/2004 - 2/11/2004, held in Augusta, GA.

 
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