NRC kicks evacuation plans back to state
By CHRISTINE LEGERE
June 21, 2014
A
response to the governor from the country's top nuclear regulator has stirred
reaction from Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station foes who say it opens the way to
close the plant on the basis that "there's no escape from the Cape."
Last
week, Allison Macfarlane, chairwoman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
responded to a March letter from Gov. Deval Patrick, in which he expressed
concern over Pilgrim's recent performance downgrade as well as the absence of a
"viable evacuation plan," in case of an accident.
"The
unique geographical relationship between Pilgrim and the communities comprising
Cape Cod and Southeastern Massachusetts could put those residents at serious
risk should there be an accident," Patrick wrote.
The
governor called for closing the plant if it failed to comply with "all health,
safety and environmental regulations."
In
her letter, Macfarlane assured him Pilgrim's performance complies with public
health and safety standards. And she reiterated that the responsibility for an
evacuation plan is on Patrick's shoulders.
"The
commonwealth of Massachusetts has the overall authority for making protective
action decisions (e.g., sheltering and evacuation) to ensure the safety of
Massachusetts residents during a radiological event," Macfarlane said.
Plant
critics say that authority would allow the governor to demand Pilgrim be closed
because it's impossible to come up with a viable evacuation plan should the
plant have an accident.
"The
current evacuation plan for Pilgrim nuclear power plant is highly unrealistic,
discounting the impacts of such basics as weather, traffic and human behavior,"
wrote Giselle Barry, a spokeswoman for Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., in an
email.
Until
the plan is revised, Barry called it "a disaster waiting to happen."
Diane
Turco, founder of the Pilgrim watchdog group Cape Downwinders, said Macfarlane's
statement has exciting ramifications.
"She
identifies the state as responsible for the public safety," Turco said. "Now the
governor needs to reject the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency's
evacuation plans because the plans have the Cape trapped."
Currently
the emergency response plan developed by local and state emergency management
officials covers only the 10-mile radius around the Pilgrim plant, the area
defined by the NRC as the Emergency Planning Zone. Under that plan at least one
of the Cape's two bridges would be closed in a nuclear accident to stop an
exodus of Cape residents from slowing the evacuation from the 10-mile zone.
The
only plan developed for the Cape is a generic traffic plan MEMA has put together
for all emergencies, such as floods, hurricanes and severe storms.
Meanwhile,
Cape leaders and Pilgrim watchdogs have clamored for years for an evacuation
study.
Seth
Rolbein, senior adviser for state Sen. Daniel Wolf, D-Harwich, noted that MEMA
officials have said sheltering in place would likely be "the best and maybe the
only option" for the Cape.
"Given
that, from a public safety point of view, the responsible position is to begin
on a plan for the decommissioning of the Pilgrim plant, that transitions the
workforce and revenue, and protects the public safety," Rolbein said.
Last
summer, KLD Engineering, a New York firm specializing in traffic patterns and
evacuation planning, was hired by Entergy, Pilgrim's owner, and MEMA to survey
Cape residents to determine how many would try to evacuate in a nuclear
incident. They found more than half would race for the bridges.
MEMA
spokesman Peter Judge said Wednesday that nothing has been done since KLD
completed its survey last summer.
"Obviously
there has been concern about the folks on the Cape," Judge said. "We're meeting
with the Barnstable County Regional Emergency Planning Committee to discuss what
the next steps in the traffic plan should be, and we'll go forward in
conjunction with them, working on a plan if the worst case did occur."
Kevin
Morley, public information officer for the county emergency planning committee,
confirmed the plan for a meeting, but added solutions to the "no escape from the
Cape" won't easily be found.
"The
physical limitations of the geography make it a difficult situation," Morley
said.
Follow
Christine Legere on Twitter: @ChrisLegereCCT
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