Optimal site selection for a nuclear power plant considering transportation and accessibility challenges

A methodology is proposed to evaluate and rank the potential sites for a nuclear power plant. The area of interest was divided into rectangular zones and each zone was evaluated based on its accessibility and travel time from selected points of interest (POIs) which were defined as potential origin/destination points for transportation of nuclear materials. The shortest routes between each POI and potential zones were evaluated and zones were ranked based on their accessibility from all POIs. The proposed methodology aims to mitigate the risks associated with transportation of nuclear materials by minimizing the travel times from POIs to potential zones (i.e. exposure to risk). Three scenarios were evaluated including the cases when i) all road categories and POIs were treated equally, ii) road categories were rank ordered while POIs were treated equally, and iii) road categories and POIs were rank ordered. The results were presented graphically using heat maps. (author)