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- In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.
- Publication history
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Received April 26, 2024
Accepted July 15, 2024
- This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Enhancing Radiological Emergency Response Through Agent-Based Model Case 1: Eff ectiveness of Staged Evacuation
Abstract
In the event of radiological emergencies, such as nuclear accidents, the speedy but well-ordering evacuation of residents
is imperative to ensure their health and safety. Staged evacuation has been studied as a method to reduce evacuation time.
However, a method is needed to confi rm the eff ectiveness of staged evacuation and to optimize the strategy. This study evaluates
the performance of staged evacuation with more realistic factors which are implementable in a simulation platform. The
evacuation simulation was conducted using PRISM (Platform for Radiological Emergency Integrated Simulation Model),
developed by Kyung Hee University and utilizing an Agent-Based Model. A city was modeled using GIS data for road networks,
buildings, and administrative districts. The population distribution was made non-uniform based on building layout
data, and evacuation areas were divided based on administrative districts for demonstrating purpose. The simulation varied
the order of evacuation groups and the evacuation start time interval, comparing evacuation times and average speeds to
evaluate each strategy. The results reached a few insights: (1) Certain staged evacuation strategies are eff ective in reducing
evacuation times within the PAZ. (2) A staged evacuation strategy that prioritizes areas closest to the nuclear plant resulted
in longer evacuation times compared to other evacuation sequences. (3) There is no signifi cant relationship between evacuation
time and evacuation speed. In other words, even if the evacuation times of strategies are similar, the evacuation speeds
may diff er. Since evacuation speed indicates road congestion, a strategy with a slightly longer evacuation time but a faster
evacuation speed may be chosen depending on the objective.