nuclear-news

Call for wider evacuation zones around USA nuclear plants

“Pretending that radiation from an accident at Oyster Creek would not go beyond the 10-mile evacuation zone is a fantasy placing millions of people at risk,”

Nuclear Plant Watchdogs Call for Expansion of Evacuation Zone Around Oyster Creek, Berkely Patch, 16 Feb 12, NRC spokesman says current 10-mile evacuation zone is sufficient for public safety and health By Elaine Piniat Jersey Shore advocates and 37 clean energy groups have petitioned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to expand emergency evacuation zones and improve emergency response planning around U.S. nuclear reactors, including the Oyster Creek Generating Station.

“Pretending that radiation from an accident at Oyster Creek would not go beyond the 10-mile evacuation zone is a fantasy placing millions of people at risk,” said Janet Tauro, a member of Grandmothers, Mothers
and More for Energy Safety (GRAMMES), a grassroots organization that
fought the relicensing of Oyster Creek and signed the petition.

The petition calls for:

The NRC to incorporate real-world lessons of the Fukushima nuclear
disaster by expanding the existing emergency evacuation zones from 10
to 25 miles around nuclear reactors to 25 to 50 miles.
Utilities would be responsible for identifying and publicizing
potential evacuation routes.
The NRC to require utilities and state and local governments to
practice emergency drills in the case of a natural disaster that
occurs concurrently to a nuclear meltdown.
The NRC to expand the “ingestion pathway zone,” which monitors food,
milk and water, from 50 miles to 100 miles around reactors.
http://berkeley-nj.patch.com/articles/oyster-creekxx-a86eeba9

February 17, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA