5.1 Overview of operations

5.1.1 If the PEOC receives notification of a Near Incident (as defined in section 2.2), the associated response will depend on the notification category of the incident:

  • For an Unusual Event/Alert (U.S.) or an Area Alert/ Station Alert (Quebec) notification, the response should be Routine Monitoring (see Chapter 4).
  • For Site Area/General Emergency (U.S.) or a General Alert 1 or 2 (Quebec) notifications, the response should be Enhanced Monitoring.

The remainder of this chapter will focus on the Enhanced Monitoring response.

5.1.2 In order to gather radiological information about the contamination (e.g. plume and deposition, air and ground concentrations, exposure rates, etc.) the PEOC will direct radiation monitoring for:

  1. the area within the Secondary Zone boundary (i.e. 80 km from the incident station)
  2. selected sites around the Province.

5.1.3 Hybrid teams comprising members from federal, provincial, Ontario's nuclear facilities and private sector organizations, will be assembled to jointly carry out the radiation monitoring activities. The PEOC will have the overall responsibility of organizing and coordinating the radiation monitoring resources and utilization of findings.

5.1.4 Initially, aerial field-monitoring teams will be deployed to perform radiation monitoring to:

  1. identify the type of radioactive contaminants;
  2. determine how far they have spread and in what direction; and
  3. determine if additional resources are needed.

The information can then be used to direct ground monitoring resources to carry out more detailed field surveys, in areas of concern to develop a more refined contamination picture.

5.1.5 Based on this radiological information, the PEOC can establish the initial boundaries of various response zones (section 5.6) within which appropriate ingestion control measures can be ordered.

5.1.6 The radiological picture of the contaminated area will continue to change over time due to radioactive decay, natural processes of weathering, dispersion, dilution, etc. as well as human activities and intervention. It will therefore be necessary to continue an elaborate field-monitoring program to keep track of this changing radiological situation. As more accurate data is accumulated, the boundaries of these zones and therefore ingestion control measures will be appropriately adjusted.

5.2 Initial operations

5.2.1 PEOC Assembles: The PEOC organization described in Section 3.3 is notified and begins operations, under the direction of the Commander (see Section 5.3 below).

5.2.2 Based on the initial information received, the PEOC may decide to order precautionary ingestion control measures in the Secondary Zone municipalities (Section 5.4 below).

5.2.3 Following discussions with the applicable provincial or State EOC, and if considered appropriate, provincial staff may be deployed to the State or Provincial Emergency Operations Centre dealing with the incident. If not deployed, ongoing communication linkages will be established and maintained to obtain regular updates on the situation. See Section 5.8 below.

5.2.4 Liaison with Municipalities: Communication will be established with the Secondary Zone municipalities (Annex B), and they will be kept informed of the situation. Following discussions with affected municipality(ies) and if considered appropriate, provincial staff will be dispatched. See Section 5.9 below.

5.2.5 Public Direction & Emergency Information:

If ingestion control measures are required and operational directives are issued (or in the event of a declared emergency, advising of such orders), the PEOC will consider:

  1. Issuing an Emergency Bulletin.
  2. Issuing an initial news release. See Section 5.10 below.

5.2.6 Provincial Emergency Declaration: The PEOC will advise government whether declaration of an emergency under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, is warranted.

5.2.7 Scientific Section: Under the direction and guidance of the Scientific Section, monitoring teams will be deployed to measure airborne radiation as well as radioactive material on the ground to determine the need and extent of ingestion control measures required (see Section 5.4 below).

5.2.8 Protective Measures: The PEOC will consider the need to implement ingestion control measures (Section 5.4 below), based on the assessments from the Scientific Section (Section 5.5 below) and will issue operational directives (or, in the event of a declared emergency, advising of such orders) as appropriate.

5.3 Command

Under the direction of the Commander, the Command Section will be responsible for:

  1. Set over all response goals and strategies.
  2. Identification and resolution of operational issues.
  3. Ensuring implementation of the emergency response decisions, including upgrading, reducing or terminating response level.
  4. Issuing operational directives and guidance, including advisories and Emergency Bulletins.
  5. Consultation with commanders of municipal/ministry/provincial/ federal/U.S. Emergency Operation Centres.
  6. Command and control of all allocated emergency response resources.

5.4 Precautionary/protective measures

Based on a preliminary assessment of the situation, some or all of the following precautionary measures should be considered and applied in the Secondary Zone as, when and where appropriate :

  • Sheltering pets and other animals.
  • Banning consumption of any item of food or water that could have been contaminated.
  • Banning the export of milk, meat, produce, and milk and meat producing animals from areas that could have been contaminated.
  • Removing milk and meat producing animals from outside pasture and exposed water sources.
  • Closing of beaches, parks, recreation areas etc.

5.5 Radiation monitoring

5.5.1 Radiation monitoring surveys shall be carried out, under the auspices of the Scientific Section of the PEOC, in order to determine the following information:

  1. Exposure rates and contamination levels
  2. Identification of radionuclides
  3. Appropriate sampling locations

5.5.2 Monitoring and data analysis details shall be provided in the operating procedures of the Scientific Section and the groups operating under it (Nuclear Incident, Environmental Radiation Monitoring, Assurance Monitoring, and General Province-Wide Monitoring Groups).

5.5.3 Field Monitoring resources

Upon request from the PEOC's Scientific Section, Environmental Radiation Monitoring Group, Health Canada will arrange aerial monitoring to determine the path of the radioactive plume and the location of ground contamination (see paragraph 5.1.4). This will support ground monitoring positioning and deployment.

5.5.4 Provincial Agencies

  1. Assurance Monitoring Group

    Headed by the Radiation Protection Service of the Ministry of Labour, this group implements monitoring programs, in areas adjacent to a radioactive release which do not require protective measures against radiation. The Programs are aimed at assuring the public that air, food and water are safe (refer to MOL Assurance/General Province-Wide Monitoring Group Plan).

  2. General Province-Wide Monitoring Group

    Headed by the Radiation Protection Service of the Ministry of Labour, this group monitors province-wide sampling to determine the extent of radionuclide dispositions and foodstuff contamination (refer to MOL Assurance/General Province-Wide Monitoring Group Plan).

5.6 Delineation of radiation contamination zones

5.6.1 Field Monitoring will be carried out under the direction of the Scientific Section and will result in the delineation of radiation contamination zones as outlined below. However, it is expected that for a transborder incident, the only zone to be delineated will be the Buffer Zone (5.6.2 (b) below).

5.6.2 Protective Measures will be directed, based on the delineation of these zones:

  1. Restricted Zone

    The area within which exposure control measures are likely to be needed, based on the results of field monitoring. These measures would be applied within this Restricted Zone as per the Protective Action Levels (PNERP Master Plan, Annex E).

  2. Buffer Zone

    This zone provides a buffer area beyond the Restricted Zone, where limited measures of radioactivity are detected. The buffer zone is initially delineated based on the results of preliminary field monitoring. Ingestion control measures may be applied within this zone based on guidance provided by the Protective Action Levels (PNERP Master Plan, Annex E), and in accordance with direction provided by Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

5.7 Ongoing assessment of the situation

5.7.1 The PEOC will carry out an ongoing assessment of the situation based on information and data received from the State/Provincial Emergency Operations Centre (either from State/Provincial officials or the Ontario Emergency Response Team, when deployed), as well as the results of radiation monitoring carried out within Ontario (section 5.5 above).

5.7.2 The main aims of this ongoing assessment will be:

  1. To develop, modify as necessary, and implement a field monitoring plan.
  2. To decide on the need for ingestion control measures (section 5.4).
  3. To modify the ingestion control measures implemented, based on the results of the ongoing field monitoring.
  4. To adjust the response level and/or staffing level, as required.

5.8 Provincial staff deployment to u.s.

5.8.1 A team may be deployed, if considered appropriate, to the State /Province in which the Near Incident has occurred. As arranged by the host EOC, this team will base itself at the State or Provincial Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).

5.8.2 The role of this team will be to:

  1. Maintain close liaison with U.S./Provincial authorities dealing with the emergency (Annex C contains an outline of the U.S. response structure).
  2. Obtain and transmit to the PEOC all relevant data and information on the emergency and its potential effect on Ontario.
  3. Provide information to U.S./Provincial officials on the actions being taken by Ontario.

5.9 Provincial staff deployment - Ontario

5.9.1 A team may be deployed, if considered appropriate, to the Secondary Zone municipality(ies) affected by the incident.

5.9.2 The role of this team will be to:

  1. Maintain close liaison with the municipality(ies) dealing with the emergency (Annex B contains a list of Secondary Zone municipalities).
  2. Provide direction/guidance to the municipality(ies) on actions they may need to take.
  3. Obtain and transmit, to the PEOC, all relevant information on the local situation.
  4. Provide information to the municipality(ies) on the actions being taken by the Province.

5.10 Emergency information

  1. The PEOC will arrange for emergency information to be regularly issued to the media and the public and will ensure coordination of news releases with Secondary Zone municipalities.
  2. Emergency information will be exchanged with deployed provincial staff members to ensure, as far as possible consistency in the public messaging.

5.11 Emergency worker safety

All survey teams will be equipped with radiation monitoring and personal protective equipment, by their parent organization, and should restrict their doses to as low as reasonably achievable.

5.12 Restrictions on food imports

5.12.1 The Federal government may impose restrictions on the import of food and other items from abroad which may have been contaminated. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs may be required to assist in their implementation.

5.12.2 If significant levels of contamination are known to have occurred in some part of Canada, the PEOC should consider whether any restrictions need to be applied to the import into the province, of food and other items from that area. Appropriate recommendations and actions will be discussed amongst the following PEOC representatives:

  • Federal
  • MOL
  • MOE
  • OMAFRA
  • MTO
  • MOHLTC
  • OPP and
  • Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs (MIA)

5.13 Compensation

The Province, through the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, together with the Federal government, will assist those seeking fair compensation for their losses, as a result of this emergency.

5.14 Termination of response / Transition to the recovery phase

  1. At a suitable stage the PEOC will terminate the response and, if deemed appropriate, will consult with the major organizations involved in the emergency response regarding the need to transition to a Recovery Phase.
  2. Based on these consultations, the PEOC will set a time for the ending of the Response Phase (and the commencement of Recovery Phase) and inform all concerned in advance.
  3. At the change-over time the Response Phase will end, and, if required, the Recovery Phase will commence, and the required organizational and other changes will be made by all those affected as prescribed separately in recovery plans and procedures.
  4. If no Recovery is required, the PEOC will terminate the response and inform all concerned.