A decision-support system for off-site nuclear emergencies

In the case of a nuclear emergency, quick, well-founded decisions must be made about the type of protective action, its region of application, and initiation time. These typically are tasks for computer-based systems. Even with emergency-preparedness, exercises, and training, the decision-support system is one of great importance. This paper describes a decision-support system recently developed by the China Institute of Atomic Energy; it can optimally rank actions during the early phase of an accident using multiattribute utility analysis, and for the intermediate and later phases by cost-benefit analysis. This system runs both on MICRO VAX II and PC systems.