Based
on the latest article at NJSpotlight.com, it looks like the vote
for the nuclear bailout is going to be a done deal with the Senate,
Assembly, and Governor.
If
the nuclear bailout bill (presently
S2313/A3724, I think) is a fait accompli then the Murphy
administration may want to consider requiring PSEG (and Excelon?) to
increase the radius of their Emergency Planning Zones in NJ from the
NRC-mandated 10 miles to 50 miles.
Some of the
reasons why we need a 50-mile EPZ were explained back in 2015
in NJSpotlight.
Another
reason: a substantive mandate for radiological terrorism
preparedness throughout the state is still missing from the NJ
Radiological Emergency Response Plan.
N.J.S.A.
26:2D-37, and other sections of the Radiation
Accident Response Act, specifically limit the definition of an
emergency response to a radiation accident to one that occurs (1) at
a nuclear facility or (2) during a transportation accident. There is
no specific mandate to develop specific plans for responding to a nuclear disaster if
it is caused by an act of terrorism and it happens outside a 10-mile
Emergency Planning Zone. That's nuts.
The
generous funding in these bills is more than enough to fund the
mandated drills, equipment and training within a 50-mile EPZ – like
it presently does within the current 10-mile EPZ. This would
effectively expand the requirement for nuclear preparedness planning
beyond two or three 10-mile zones into much of NJ.
If
this suggestion is not included in the final bills that end up on the
Governor's desk, then his NJDEP should at least consider funding a
pilot program for counties that are within the hypothetical 20-mile
Dangerous
Fallout Zone surrounding major urban centers within or proximate
to NJ (1). The radiological planning documents already developed for
the 10-mile EPZ could be provided to communities within the 20-mile
DFZ in order to cost-effectively kick-start this planning.
The
US GAO has been
warning for years in multiple reports that the “government
isn't fully prepared to handle a nuclear terrorist attack or a
large-scale natural catastrophe, lacks effective coordination, and in
some cases is years away from ensuring adequate emergency shelter and
medical treatment”.
The
US DHHS Office of Inspector General has also warned: “Although the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires nuclear power plants to have
emergency plans for their facilities and the immediate surrounding
area,
no Federal entity requires States or localities to have public health
emergency plans for nonpowerplant radiological and/or nuclear (RN)
incidents, such as a terrorist attack.”
This
administration has walked into an opportunity to start fixing this. Batter
up.
(1)
The Dangerous Fallout Zone (DFZ) from a 10 kt bomb temporarily peaks
at 10,000 mille Roentgens/hour, or about a million times ambient
background radiation (in coastal NJ) at twenty miles from ground
zero. Planning Guidance for Response to a Nuclear Detonation (2nd Ed.
p.32) (NSSOSTP, 2010) http://www.remm.nlm.gov/PlanningGuidanceNuclearDetonation.pdf
