New England Coalition
Post Office Box 545
Brattleboro, VT 05302-0545
(802) 257-0336
   necnp.org   
necnp@necnp.org

LEGAL CHALLENGE BY NIRS, NEW ENGLAND COALITION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
February 15, 2012
NEC contact:   Ned Childs 802-579-6601  Raymond Shadis  207-380-5994
Clay Turnbull 802-380-4462
NIRS contact: Michael Mariotte or Dominique French   301-270-6477
 

CLEAN ENERGY GROUPS SUBMIT FORMAL PETITION TO NRC TO INCORPORATE LESSONS OF
FUKUSHIMA: 
EXPAND EVACUATION ZONES, IMPROVE EMERGENCY PLANNING AROUND U.S. NUCLEAR
REACTORS


New England Coalition along with NIRS and thirty-six other clean energy
groups today submitted a formal petition for rulemaking to the federal
Nuclear Regulatory Commission seeking adoption of new regulations to expand
emergency evacuation zones and improve emergency response planning around
U.S. nuclear reactors. 

Calling on the NRC to incorporate the real-world lessons of the Fukushima
nuclear disaster, the proposed rules would expand existing emergency
evacuation zones from 10 to 25 miles around nuclear reactors and establish a
new zone from 25-50 miles around reactors for which utilities would have to
identify and publicize potential evacuation routes. Another improvement
would require utilities and state and local governments to practice
emergency drills that includes a natural disaster that either initiates or
occurs concurrently to a nuclear meltdown. Currently, utilities do not have
to show the capability to conduct an evacuation during a natural
disaster-even though, as seen at Fukushima, natural disasters can cause
nuclear meltdowns. The petition would also expand the "ingestion pathway
zone," which monitors food, milk and water, from 50 miles to 100 miles
around reactors.
 
"80% of the airborne radiation released from Fukushima went directly over
the Pacific Ocean," explained Michael Mariotte, executive director of
Nuclear Information and Resource Service, which initiated the petition.
"Even so, the Fukushima evacuation zone extended more than 25 miles to the
northwest of the site, and the NRC and U.S. State Department both
recommended that U.S. citizens within 50 miles of Fukushima evacuate. Such
evacuations could not be effectively conducted in the U.S. under current
emergency planning regulations. We need to be better prepared and we can't
rely on favorable wind patterns to protect the American people."

Dominique French, who is leading NIRS' campaign to improve emergency
response planning, added, "The NRC has relied primarily on the 1979 Three
Mile Island accident and subsequent computerized accident simulations to
support its emergency planning rules. But first at Chernobyl in 1986, and
now at Fukushima, the real world has trumped any possible simulation. The
fact is that far too many Americans live near nuclear reactors, but outside
existing emergency planning zones. Based on real-life experience, these
people need better protection."

"There is no invisible lead curtain surrounding nuclear power plants. We
need to incorporate lessons learned from previous nuclear disasters. At the
very least, we should stop pretending that emergency evacuation zones of 10
miles are adequate, and expand planning to include residents living within
50 miles of a nuclear power plant," said Eric Epstein of Three Mile Island
Alert in Pennsylvania. "On Friday, March 30, 1979--while school was in
session--Governor Thornburgh recommended a 'precautionary evacuation' for
preschool children and pregnant women living within five miles of Three Mile
Island. The targeted population was estimated at 5,000, but more than
144,000 central Pennsylvanians from 50 miles away fled the area--further
proof that a radiological disaster is not a controlled field trip."

Raymond Shadis, technical advisor to Vermont-based New England Coalition
said, "It is completely irresponsible for NRC to continue ignoring  the
lessons of actual radiological release events. The Soviets evacuated out to
30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from Chernobyl; and they evacuated farther when
radiation deposits warranted it. Events at Fukushima proved that in many
circumstances even 20 miles was not sufficiently conservative; with evacuees
actually being sent into areas that were radiologically hotter than those
areas they were leaving.  Going back as far as 1980, NRC's own Rogovin
Commission, reflecting on Three Mile Island releases, recommended a 20 mile
evacuation zone. NRC has no excuse for continuing to drag its feet on this
simple but vital gesture toward safety."

"Indian Point, 24 miles from New York City, sits at the epicenter of the
most demographically dense area of any nuclear reactor in the nation.  Even
under normal conditions, traffic is congested and regional infrastructure is
highly stressed.  During the severe snow, rain and wind storms of the past
few years, large swaths of the region have been brought to a near
standstill.  And yet the NRC ignores all these realities, preferring to play
with its computer models.  This is a dangerous game," said Michel Lee,
Steering Committee, Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition.

"In lieu of the recent activities around nuclear plants both in the United
States and in Japan it had become obvious that a new Emergency Planning
Zones be implemented. The Shell Bluff Community is asking that the NRC
establish new guidelines that would expand the radius to protect the
citizens that are in arms ways of these facilities. After all Japan is still
experiencing unfolding occurrences that are taking place outside of their
projected protected zone. The United States must move to protect her
citizens who are in these dangerous pathways," said Charles N. Utley,
community organizer for the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League.
A third of the population in the U.S., or roughly 120 million people, lives
within a 50 mile radius of a nuclear reactor. Current emergency planning
rules require utilities to develop and exercise emergency evacuation plans
within a 10 mile radius around reactors. The "ingestion pathway" currently
consists of an area about 50 miles in radius and focuses on actions
appropriate to protect the food ingestion pathway.

At Fukushima, and earlier at Chernobyl, interdiction of contaminated food
and liquids has occurred further than 100 miles from the accident sites.
Japan is already acting to improve its emergency response capability, in the
event nuclear reactors ever are allowed to operate there again. Prior to the
disaster at Fukushima, the emergency planning zones for nuclear emergencies
in Japan was between 8-10 kilometers (5-6 miles). The zone is now being
expanded to 30 kilometers (18 miles). The actual Fukushima evacuation zone
was a 20 kilometer (12 mile) radius around the site, although areas to the
northwest, where the heaviest radiation on land was measured, were evacuated
more than 25 miles away.

The initial co-petitioners are: Nuclear Information and Resource Service
(national and lead author), Bellefonte Efficiency and Sustainability Team
(TN), Beyond Nuclear (national), Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
(Southeast), Citizens Action Coalition (IN), Citizen Power (PA), Citizens
Awareness Network (Northeast), Citizens Within a 10-Mile Radius (MA),
Citizens Environmental Coalition (NY), Coalition for a Nuclear Free Great
Lakes (Great Lakes), Concerned Citizens of Shell Bluff (GA), Connecticut
Coalition Against Millstone, Council on Intelligent Energy and Conservation
Policy (NY), Don't Waste Arizona, Don't Waste Michigan, The Ecology Party of
Florida, Empire State Consumer Project Inc. (NY), Grandmothers, Mothers, and
More for Energy Safety (GRAMMES) (NJ), Greenpeace (national), Indian Point
Safe Energy Coalition (NY), Jersey Shore Nuclear Watch (NJ), Missourians for
Safe Energy, New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution, Nuclear Energy
Information Service (IL), NC WARN, (NC), Northwest Environmental Advocates
(OR), Not On Our Fault Line (VA), People's Alliance for Clean Energy (VA),
Promoting Health and Sustainable Energy (PHASE) (NY), Public Citizen Energy
Program (national), San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace (CA), SEED Coalition
(TX), Sierra Club of South Carolina, Three Mile Island Alert (PA),
Tri-Valley CARE (CA), Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah (HEAL Utah),
Vermont Public Interest Research Group, We The People Inc. (TN).

The full text of the petition is available here:

http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/emergency/petitionforrulemaking22012.pdf

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