EPGMS (PGMS) meaning

EPGMS (also PGMS) refers, in nuclear emergency planning practice, to a network of fixed gamma dose‑rate monitors located on or near a nuclear site’s boundary to detect and track any airborne radioactivity (a radioactive plume) arising from an abnormal release. It provides real‑time measurements to support on‑site and off‑site decision‑making. The expression is not defined in legislation, but is widely used in operator emergency arrangements and regulatory guidance under the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2019 (REPPIR) in Great Britain, and in analogous radiation emergency planning frameworks in Northern Ireland and Ireland. Usage and purpose are broadly consistent across these jurisdictions. Key legal features and significance: - Typical functions include automatic alarm on elevated gamma dose rates, data feeds to the site control room and local responders, and inputs to plume modelling. - The nuclear site operator is generally responsible for procuring, maintaining, testing and demonstrating the system as part of its site licence and REPPIR‑compliant emergency plans, and for evidencing performance during exercises and incidents. - EPGMS data support protective action decisions (for example, sheltering, evacuation or iodine prophylaxis) and complement wider off‑site surveillance networks. Also called a Plume Gamma monitoring System, PGMS.