{"id":3428,"date":"2012-06-25T07:29:24","date_gmt":"2012-06-24T21:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/?p=3428"},"modified":"2012-06-25T07:29:24","modified_gmt":"2012-06-24T21:29:24","slug":"nuclear-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/2012\/06\/nuclear-safety-3428.html","title":{"rendered":"NRC\/FEMA Caring Less About Nuclear Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the USA, nuclear power regulators have overhauled community emergency planning for the first time in more than three decades, requiring fewer exercises for major accidents and recommending fewer people be evacuated right away<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

This seems at odds with the recent nuclear disaster in Japan, and the fact that American reactors are getting older and more prone to failure. And suspiciously the changes were made on December 23, when no serious reporting was likely to occur.<\/p>\n

An AP investigative series in June exposed weaknesses in the U.S. emergency planning program. The stories detailed how many nuclear reactors are now operating beyond their design life under rules that have been relaxed to account for deteriorating safety margins. The series also documented dramatic population growth around nuclear power plants and limitations in the scope of emergency exercises. For example, local authorities assemble at command centers where they test communications, but they do not deploy around the community, reroute traffic or evacuate anyone as in a real emergency.<\/p>\n
…the revisions also favor limiting initial evacuations, even in a severe accident. Under the previous standard, people within two miles would be immediately evacuated, along with everyone five miles downwind. Now, in a large quick release of radioactivity, emergency personnel would concentrate first on evacuating people only within two miles. Others would be told to stay put and wait for a possible evacuation order later.<\/p>\n
…the AP reported that populations within 10 miles of U.S. nuclear sites have ballooned by as much as 4 1\/2 times since 1980. Nuclear sites were originally picked in less populated areas to minimize the impact of accidents. Now, about 120 million Americans – almost 40 percent – live within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant, according to the AP’s analysis of 2010 Census data. The Indian Point plant in Buchanan, N.Y., is at the center of the largest such zone, with 17.3 million people, including almost all of New York City.<\/p>\n
Full Associated Press story at Fox News<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The 50 mile zone seems to be terribly arbitrary. I recommend that people find a safe spot that it at least 10o miles from a nuclear power plant. See this map<\/a>. Or this one<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the USA, nuclear power regulators have overhauled community emergency planning for the first time in more than three decades, requiring fewer exercises for major accidents and recommending fewer people be evacuated right away.<\/p>\n
This seems at odds with the recent nuclear disaster in Japan, and the fact that American reactors are getting older and more prone to failure. And suspiciously the changes were made on December 23, when no serious reporting was likely to occur.
\nAn AP investigative series in June exposed weaknesses in the U.S. emergency planning program. The stories detailed how many nuclear reactors are now operating beyond their design life under rules that have been relaxed to account for deteriorating safety margins. The series also documented dramatic population growth around nuclear power plants and limitations in the scope of emergency exercises. For example, local authorities assemble at command centers …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[306],"tags":[469],"class_list":["post-3428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nuclear","tag-evacuation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3428"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3440,"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3428\/revisions\/3440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}