Minimum collective dose based optimal evacuation path-planning method under nuclear accidents

•A Minimizing Collective dose based path-planning method (MCPP) was proposed.•The accumulative dose based Dijkstra algorithm was proposed to find the optimal evacuation routes.•The equilibrium model considering road resistance was used to formulate the optimal evacuation path plan under nuclear accidents.•The results showed that the path plan formulated by MCPP method could reasonably reduce personnel radiation exposure during the evacuation process.•By combining the situation of road resistance and dose rate distribution, the obtained path plan can reasonably arrange personnel evacuation and reduce the personnel radiation exposure during the process.