nuclear-news

Despite Fukushima, USA inexplicably weakening its nuclear emergency procedures

 The latest changes, especially relaxed exercise plans for 50-mile emergency zones, are being flayed by some local planners and activists who say the widespread contamination in Japan from last year’s Fukushima nuclear accident screams out for stronger planning in the United States, not weaker rules……

Evacs and drills pared near nuke plants, Bloomberg, By JEFF DONN, 17 May 12, Without fanfare, the nation’s nuclear power regulators have overhauled community emergency planning for the first time in more than three decades, requiring fewer exercises for major accidents and recommending that fewer people be evacuated right away.

The revamp, the first since the program began after Three Mile Island in 1979, also eliminates a requirement that local responders always practice for a release of radiation.
At least four years in the works, the changes appear to clash with more recent lessons of last year’s reactor crisis in Japan.

Under the new rules, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, which run the program together, have
added one new exercise: More than a decade after the 9/11 terrorist
attacks, state and community police will now take part in exercises
that prepare for a possible assault on their local plant.
Still, some emergency officials say this new exercise doesn’t go far enough.

And some view as downright bizarre the idea that communities will now
periodically run emergency scenarios without practicing for any
significant release of radiation.

These changes, while documented in obscure federal publications, went
into effect in December with hardly any notice by the general public.

An Associated Press investigative series in June exposed weaknesses in
the U.S. emergency planning program. The stories detailed how many
nuclear reactors are now operating beyond their design life under
rules that have been relaxed to account for deteriorating safety
margins. The series also documented considerable population growth
around nuclear power plants and limitations in the scope of exercises.
For example, local authorities assemble at command centers where they
test communications, but they do not deploy around the community,
reroute traffic or evacuate anyone as in a real emergency.

The latest changes, especially relaxed exercise plans for 50-mile emergency zones, are being flayed by some local planners and activists who say the widespread contamination in Japan from last year’s Fukushima nuclear accident screams out for stronger planning in the
United States, not weaker rules……
The Japanese disaster reinforced such worries when officials told some
towns beyond 12 miles from the disabled plant to evacuate. The U.S.
government recommended that Americans stay at least 50 miles from the
plant. Soil and crops were contaminated for scores of miles around. At
one point, health authorities in Tokyo, 140 miles away, advised
families not to give children the local water, which was contaminated
by fallout to twice the government limit for infants….
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-05/D9UPSAI00.htm

May 18, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA