The Impact of the April 27, 2011 Severe Weather Outbreak on TVA's Radiological Emergency Preparedness Program

On April 27, 2011, the Southeast United States endured an historic outbreak of severe weather that produced a record-breaking number of tornadoes, among numerous other high wind and hail reports. This outbreak surpassed the 1974 outbreak in many statistics and was the deadliest tornado outbreak in our region since 1932. Over 100 tornados were reported in the TVA service territory, several of which were long-track, high intensity.

As several rounds of severe weather traversed the TVA region that day, tornado warnings were issued multiple times for each of TVA's three operating nuclear plants and the corporate emergency centers. One such warning was for a violent, EF-5 tornado that passed within 5 miles of the Browns Ferry Nuclear (BFN) Plant in North Alabama, causing a 3-unit SCRAM and subsequent Notice of Unusual Event (NOUE) to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

The Central Emergency Control Center (CECC) was activated in support of the BFN event, and meteorological support was provided both from the main CECC in Chattanooga, TN and a satellite location in Muscle Shoals, AL.

This presentation will provide an overview of the event, the support that the CECC Meteorologists provided during and after the event, and lessons learned.