ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the results of an empirical test of a causal model of emergency evacuation decision-making. It aims to develop this model to assist emergency management officials in their attempt to understand public behaviour during the Three Mile Island (TMI) crisis. The actual behaviour of south-central Pennsylvania residents during the TMI crisis closely parallels the intended behaviour of the New York sample. A wide range of locational factors, including proximity to the reactor, physical features in the local environment, local land use patterns, major transport routes, and prevailing wind direction, will influence evacuation decision-making in a radiological emergency. The chapter argues that those who oppose using nuclear power to generate electricity will be more inclined than those who favour the use to evacuate in a radiological emergency. The locational variables of distance and direction directly influenced the decision to evacuate.
