4/24/15 ABC 13 Norfolk: Watchdog Group Criticizes Hampton Roads Nuclear Disaster Plans
By Marcella Robertson. 24 April 2015
HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WVEC) — A disaster preparedness group says localities in Hampton Roads should better prepared for a possible nuclear accident at the Surry Power Station.
The Disaster Accountability Project is a Maryland based watchdog group formed after the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. Now in a recent report, its sights are set on the Surry Power Station and evacuation plans, should there be a nuclear accident.
The report states, “The states, counties and cities within 50 miles of the Surry plant can and should voluntarily plan for emergencies beyond what is mandated by the federal government.”
“The current guidance is only 10 miles of planning for emergency evacuation,” said Ben Smilowitz, who is the DAP’s executive director.
Localities outside of that area aren’t required to have an escape plan. Margaret Harris lives just within that 10 mile radius of the Surry Plant. She says it’s a good idea for other areas to be prepared too.
“I think we’re well covered within that 10 mile radius. Scares us to death every time we think about it though,” said Harris.
Smilowitz says it’s important to learn from previous disasters.”After Fukushima we realized that the Japanese government evacuated its residents 19 miles from Fukushima, and the U.S. government advised Americans to evacuate 50 miles,” he Smilowitz.
He says emergency managers in Virginia are only planning to the mandated minimum which wouldn’t make most Virginians very safe. Most of Hampton Roads is outside the 10 mile mandate, but not by much. The DAP says the mandate is too small, but won’t change because the government believes cities are doing their own planning. The group says during its research they found that not to be true.
“Based on all of our requests and all of our findings, local jurisdictions are not planning beyond 10 miles,” said Smilowitz.
In those requests for evacuation plans, some localities like Charles City County and Chesapeake didn’t respond. Virginia Beach sent its hurricane evacuation plan. According to Smilowitz, that won’t work because you have weeks to prepare for a hurricane and just hours to react to a nuclear accident.
The DAP is urging people to ask their local governments to prepare and plan beyond what is required.
13News Now did reach out to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, and most of the cities in Hampton Roads for responses specifically to the group’s findings. Below are the responses from the localities we have heard back from:
NORFOLK:
Norfolk is prepared for all hazards, not just the low probability event at Surry. Norfolk is 25-35 miles away from Surry, and therefore we are neither a locality requiring evacuation nor a receiving locality. Instead, our responsibilities, exercised on July 16, 2013 with FEMA, VDEM and internal Departments, focused on post-plume phase protection (water testing, etc.), emergency notification and public information. During this exercise, no deficiencies were identified, no issues unresolved and no corrective actions required. Still, Team Norfolk will always look for ways to improve preparedness and response to any disaster. – Norfolk spokesperson
NEWPORT NEWS:
All localities in the area surrounding the power station along with the state and Dominion Virginia Power participated in a full-scale, FEMA evaluated exercise in February. We are thoroughly evaluated on our response capabilities on a regular basis. VDEM should be able to provide you with the results of that exercise. – Newport News spokesperson
PORTSMOUTH:
We look at our plans as ‘all hazard’ plans. Our plan is good. It’s not nearly as comprehensive as localities within the 10 mile radius, but it is good.- Portsmouth spokesperson
HAMPTON:
Hampton’s primary role in a potential incident at the Surry plant would be to assist with evacuees from other localities. Our staff — including emergency management, police, fire, communications and many others— regularly train to ensure that our policies and procedures will safeguard and support possible evacuees, the residents of Hampton and the residents of surrounding communities. We meet and follow state and federal guidelines and requirements. In addition, we train for a variety of other potential emergency situations, all of which involve communicating with our residents via traditional media, social media, and phone calls. – Hampton spokesperson