REPORT: LOCAL GOVERNMENTS MUST IMPROVE RADIOLOGICAL EVACUATION PLANNING FOR THE SURRY POWER STATION
REPORT: LOCAL GOVERNMENTS MUST IMPROVE RADIOLOGICAL EVACUATION PLANNING FOR THE SURRY POWER STATION
New report claims most jurisdictions are not planning and do not possess emergency evacuation plans for the Surry Power Station.
For Immediate Release: APRIL 14, 2015
CONTACT: Ben Smilowitz / ben@disasteraccountability.org / (202) 556-3023
ROCKVILLE, MD — Emergency planning and public education related to radiological incidents surrounding Surry Power Station are inadequate, according to a new report by Disaster Accountability Project (DAP).
Federal regulations require jurisdictions within 10-mile “emergency planning zones” of U.S. nuclear power plants to develop evacuation protocols for responding to radiological incidents, and to provide to residents living within these zones annual information on radiation and protective actions during radiological emergencies.
Outside the 10-mile zones, local governments are not required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to plan for radiological emergency evacuations, or educate the general public on what to do in the event of a radiological emergency.
Without planning and regular public information, many residents living outside the 10-mile radius are likely to voluntarily evacuate, even if authorities deem their particular locations safe. Such voluntary “shadow evacuations” have the potential to complicate the evacuation of people most immediately in danger by, for instance, putting additional traffic on roadways, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. In response, the NRC claimed that such planning is unnecessary, saying that current 10-mile planning zones provide an “adequate” level of protection of public health and safety in the event of an emergency at a nuclear power plant.
Between May 2014 and July 2014, DAP surveyed 35 cities and counties in Virginia and North Carolina within 50 miles of the Surry Power Station in Surry County, Virginia, seeking documents and information related to radiological preparedness, including evacuation planning.
Key findings include the following:
- Not one of the 35 jurisdictions within 50 miles of the plant provided any information on shadow evacuation planning, meaning jurisdictions representing 2.9 million people reported that they do not possess or are not aware of any shadow evacuation planning specific to the Surry plant.
- 18 of the 35 jurisdictions within 50 miles of the Surry plant provided radiological planning specific to the plant. Most of these plans were generic, identical, and only related to ingestion pathways, not emergency evacuation planning. 1.4 million people live in the other 17 jurisdictions that could not provide any emergency planning specific to radiological incidents at the Surry plant.
“Most communities situated ten or more miles from Surry do not plan for radiological emergencies simply because Washington doesn’t require it,” said Ben Smilowitz, Executive Director, Disaster Accountability Project. “Most people that live 20, 30, or 40 miles away from plants do not realize that their communities are only adhering to bare-minimum standards for radiological emergency preparedness.”
“This report’s findings should serve as a wake-up call to local communities that if Washington is not going to demand emergency planning, residents should demand it themselves. We hope residents of these communities will call on their local governments to do more, regardless of any mandate from Washington,” said Smilowitz.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
Of the five jurisdictions within 10 miles of the Surry plant – Surry County, James City County, Isle of Wight County, York County, and the City of Newport News – none provided any shadow evacuation planning, with only Newport News directing DAP to a third parties that possess such data.
Virginia Beach was the only jurisdiction between 10 and 50 miles of the Surry plant that provided any information on a shadow evacuation or study.
After an earthquake and tsunami severely damaged the Japanese Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in 2011, over 150,000 people were evacuated within 19 miles of the stricken plant due to the presence of radiological plumes. The NRC itself recommended that U.S. citizens evacuate as far as 50 miles of the plant. This distance exceeds the current mandatory planning zone of 10-miles, and the Commission has not satisfactorily reconciled this disparity between current planning and real-world implementation.
The “Report on Emergency Evacuation Planning for the Surry Power Station” can be found here:
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Since 2007, the nonprofit Disaster Accountability Project saves lives and reduces suffering after disasters by maximizing the impact of preparedness, response and relief through citizen oversight and engagement, policy research and advocacy, and public education. Connect with Disaster Accountability Project at https://disasteraccountability.org.