BE AWARE!

MILLIONS OF PEOPLE IN THE GREATER PHILADELPHIA REGION FACE CATASTROPHIC THREATS TO LIFE, PROPERTY, AND THE ENVIRONMENT.

OUR REGION COULD BECOME A TOXIC WASTELAND FOR GENERATIONS.

100-CAR CRUDE OIL “BOMB TRAINS” TRAVEL 1/8 OF A MILE FROM LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT’S REACTORS AND FUEL POOLS

“BOMB TRAIN” DERAILMENT, EXPLOSIONS, AND EXTENDED FIRES COULD TRIGGER DEVASTATING LIMERICK NUCLEAR MELTDOWNS, CAUSING MILLIONS OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA REGION’S RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES TO LOSE EVERYTHING.

• Recent reports of crude oil derailment disasters show “bomb trains” keep exploding and turning into huge fireballs that burn for days, requiring miles-wide evacuations and resulting in devastating losses.
• These unstoppable fires result in days-long thick black toxic smoke that are difficult, if not impossible to extinguish.
• Crude oil trains travel frequently though Pottstown.  Officials expressed serious concerns. (8-18-15 AP).

MILLIONS OF VICTIMS WOULD FACE UNPRECEDENTED CATASTROPHIC CONSEQUENCES DUE TO THE COMBINATION OF LIMERICK NUCLEAR MELTDOWNS PLUS A CRUDE OIL DISASTER.  VICTIMS WOULD NOT BE COMPENSATED FOR THEIR DEVASTATING LOSSES.

• Millions of people would lose their homes, businesses, and health.
• Drinking water for almost two million people (Pottstown to Philadelphia) would become radioactive/toxic.
• Long-term ecological damage would leave ghost towns that can’t be cleaned up safely.

WHO WOULD PAY TO DEAL WITH IRREVERSIBLE DEVASTATION FROM CRUDE OIL EXPLOSIONS/FIRE AND LIMERICK MELTDOWNS?  BOTTOM LINE:  NO ONE!

• NOT insurance companies that refuse to cover radiological accidents
• NOT Exelon, with its government guaranteed limited liability protection
• NOT the railroad industry, already fighting for exemption from strict liability for derailment damages
• NOT Pennsylvania, already burdened with an enormous deficit
• NOT the federal government, already trillions of dollars in debt and totally dysfunctional

TO AVOID CATASTROPHIC DISASTER COMMUNITY LEADERS AND ELECTED OFFICIALS MUST GET THE CRUDE-OIL “BOMB TRAIN” ROUTE MOVED NOW

EVERY CITIZEN MUST SPEAK UP TO COMMUNITY LEADERS AND ELECTED OFFICIALS, TO DEMAND THAT THE CRUDE-OIL “BOMB TRAIN” ROUTE BE MOVED NO CLOSER THAN SEVERAL MILES OUTSIDE THE NUCLEAR PLANT BORDER.

PLEASE REVIEW ATTACHED DETAILED INFORMATION

Compiled By The Alliance For A Clean Environment (ACE)  November, 2015

aceactivists@comcast.net    acereport.org   (610) 326-2387  

 

 

CRUDE-OIL BOMB TRAINS SHOULD NOT TRAVEL WITHIN 1/8 OF A MILE FROM LIMERICK NUCLEAR REACTORS/FUEL POOLS OR ANYWHERE ON THE SITE.   IT’S FAR TOO RISKY!

LIMERICK,  A TICKING TIME BOMB    +   A BOMB TRAIN DERAILMENT      =

CATASTROPHIC DISASTER!!!

Millions of people in the Greater Philadelphia Region face devastating risk from frequent railroad transport of millions of gallons of explosive, flammable, hazardous crude oil, only 1/8 of a mile from Limerick’s reactors and fuel pools.

Each shipment of explosive, flammable, hazardous crude oil traveling near Limerick’s reactors and fuel pools is estimated to contain:

• 30,000 gallons in each rail car.  100 or more rail cars can contain over 3 million gallons.
• Heat from the rupture and ignition of just one 30,000-gallon car can set off a chain reaction, causing other cars to explode, releasing a days-long fireball that is difficult, if not impossible to extinguish.  Basically, responders must let it burn out.

Train derailment disasters should be anticipated.  ProPublica data (2011-2014) reveals that incidents have occurred in over 250 municipalities.  Whole towns have already had to evacuate from crude-oil trains and fires.  No one should assume or suggest there will not be a crude-oil train derailment, explosion, and fire on or near the Limerick Nuclear property.

The worst of eight major crude oil train accidents and risks include:

• A train derailment and explosion killed 47 and destroyed 30 buildings in Quebec.
• 2,300 residents were evacuated in North Dakota. The fireball was observed several states away.
• Serious crude-oil train derailments and fires are occurring with more frequency.  Many have occurred just since the beginning of 2015.
• A fuel-oil train already derailed a few miles from Philadelphia.  Sixty-five tank cars bound for Philadelphia had loose, leaking, or missing safety components to prevent flammable, hazardous contents from escaping (Hazmat report – last two years).

Safer trains aren’t the answer.  A new train with a safer-design derailed in February 2015 in West Virginia, despite adhering to the speed limit.

• Hundreds of families had to flee their homes in frigid weather
• Burning continued for days
• Drinking water and electricity were lost
• Leaking crude oil poisoned the water supply
• Fireballs erupted from crumbled tank cars, underscoring volatility of crude oil’s propane, and butane
• Toxic water and dirt are difficult and very costly to attempt to clean up

Hoping it doesn’t happen doesn’t eliminate catastrophic risk!  Denial allows risks to continue and increase.

• Richard Lengel, Pottstown’s Fire Chief, said in the Mercury 2-23-15, “If something catastrophic happens, there’s no municipality along the railroad that can handle it, the volume [crude oil] is too great.  We just have to hope that nothing happens, honestly.” 
• The Pottstown Mercury 3-1-15 editorial got it right concluding, “Clearly, hope is not enough to maintain safety…”
• No matter what claims the oil, rail, or nuclear industries make, there is no emergency plan that could effectively deal with a disaster of this magnitude within 1/8 of a mile of Limerick’s fuel pools.

Fire fighters and emergency responders shouldn’t be expected to be on the front lines of such devastating uncontrollable disasters.

• Emergency responders are smart to be concerned.
• Authorities say most fire and emergency departments are only capable of responding to a 9,000 gallon tanker truck incident, but DOT-111 crude oil cars hold 30,000 gallons, exceeding the response capacity.

Catastrophic disasters from crude oil explosions/fires near Limerick Nuclear Plant can and must be prevented with foresight and political will to face this unnecessary risk and take action.

WHY CRUDE OIL BOMB TRAIN EXPLOSIONS AND FIRES ON OR NEAR THE LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT SITE CAN TRIGGER MELTDOWNS:

LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT IS ALREADY VULNERABLE TO CATASTROPHIC MULTIPLE MELTDOWNS.   LIMERICK HAS REACTOR SHUTDOWN PROBLEMS.

• Limerick has a history of chronic shutdown problems.  Publically available official reports show that Limerick’s reactors may not be able to be shut down safely in an emergency.

• An explosion and days-long fire from a crude oil “bomb train” derailment could require immediate Limerick reactor shutdowns to avoid meltdowns.  This may not be possible.

LIMERICK ISSUES RELATED TO THE CONSEQUENCES OF A BOMB TRAIN EXPLOSION FOLLOWED BY A DAYS-LONG FIREBALL PRODUCING THICK BLACK SMOKE:

• Entire towns have been forced to evacuate after a bomb train disaster.  Limerick workers, including guards, so close to the disaster should certainly be evacuated for their own health and safety.  Yet, evacuation of Limerick workers could increase meltdown risks in Limerick’s 2 reactors and 2 fuel pools.

• Limerick workers might be unable to access all necessary emergency equipment vital to preventing meltdowns, due to a crude oil explosion, massive heat, and extended days of thick black smoke.

• Limerick’s control room would likely be impacted from days of thick black smoke.  Even Occidental Chemical’s vinyl chloride powder accidents (.7 of a mile from Limerick Nuclear Plant) caused Limerick’s operators to “button up” Limerick’s control room.   What would happen in days of thick black soot from a huge crude oil fire?

• Extreme heat and soot could disturb the natural air flow needed for casks holding high-level radioactive wastes.  Blocked cask vents could go undetected in thick black smoke leading to overheating of the stored high-level radioactive wastes.

LIMERICK’S DANGEROUSLY RELAXED FIRE SAFETY REGULATIONS

• NRC weakened Limerick’s fire safety regulations, and still fails to enforce the weakened regulations.

• Limerick does not use the safest fire barrier systems in all areas, to protect cables important to safe shutdown.  Even Limerick’s recent 4-5-15 fire in a reactor panel shows that Limerick is extremely vulnerable to fire that could lead to meltdowns.

• Reduced fire safety at Limerick has new meaning in relation to days-long crude oil fires because Limerick’s fire barriers are only required to protect cables for 1 hour.

• Without the safest fire barriers, fire detection and suppression systems, and spatial separations, Limerick plant stability is compromised. Fires can erupt in many ways at a nuclear plant.  Fires from crude oil bomb trains add significantly to Limerick’s risk of meltdowns due to fire.

• Reactors and fuel pools need a constant supply of water to prevent meltdowns.  A crude oil fire could disable Limerick’s cooling water delivery system, resulting in simultaneous meltdowns in Limerick’s 2 reactors and 2 fuel pools.

• Exelon’s liability limit encourages cutting corners to save money.

A CRUDE OIL DISASTER ON THE LIMERICK SITE INCREASES OPPORTUNITIES FOR TERRORISM.

• Evacuation of security guards could increase risk of a terrorist attack.

• Terrorists could trigger a bomb train derailment,  initiating crude oil explosions and fires at any point along the lengthy rail track route on the nuclear plant site.

A “BOMB TRAIN” DISASTER AT LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT MUST BE AVOIDED!

SAFE EVACUATION IS IMPOSSIBLE:

A CRUDE OIL TRAIN DISASTER TRIGGERING LIMERICK MELTDOWNS MUST BE PREVENTED

LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT’S EVACUATION PLAN IS UNREALISTIC, UNWORKABLE, AND DEFINITELY NOT “ROBUST”.

ACE’s evaluation of  Exelon’s fatally flawed 2012 “Evacuation Time Estimate (ETE) For Limerick’s Plume Exposure Pathway” is useless as a planning tool for safe evacuation

• Exelon’s ETE is self-serving fiction riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies, fact-free spin, unsubstantiated suppositions and assumptions, illogical conclusions.

• Exelon’s ETE is not realistic and must be rejected.

To understand why Limerick Nuclear Plant’s emergency and evacuation plans are fatally flawed and inadequate, we urge you to review the 8-part ACE video-blog series on Emergency and Evacuation Plans for Limerick at www.acereport.org.   It serves as a wake-up call to millions in the Greater Philadelphia Region about Limerick Nuclear Plant’s negligent emergency and evacuation planning:

• ACE Analysis of Exelon’s Evacuation Time Estimate For Limerick’s Plume Exposure Pathway(Video / Blog Part 7)

This analysis reveals self-serving, unrealistic, unworkable fiction, with suppositions, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies, featuring fact-free spin with illogical conclusions.

• Historic Fatal Flaws In Limerick’s Emergency – Evacuation Plans (Video / Blog – Part  6)

• In 2012, NRC Pared Down Emergency and Evacuation Plans, Even After Fukushima  (Video / Blog – Part  1)

• Calls For Immediate Notification And Expanded Evacuation and Ingestion Pathway Zones   (Video /Blog – Part 2)

• The Truth and Consequences of Radiation Exposure From Nuclear Plant Accidents / Meltdowns  (Video / Blog – Part 3)

• What Really Happened After Fukushima, Chernobyl, and TMI Meltdowns  (Video / Blog – Part  4)

• Financial Injustice To The Public From A Radiation Accident / Meltdown  (Video / Blog -Part  5)

• Until Limerick Closes, Changes That Must Be Made To Limerick’s Evacuation Plan, To Minimize Radiation Exposure Risks After A Limerick Radiation Accident and/or Meltdowns   (Video / Blog – Part  8)

In 1980 NRC publicly admitted that safe evacuation from Limerick was impossible.  NRC testified at Limerick’s 1980 public hearing that Limerick had double the population density for a safe evacuation.  NRC admitted that people within 30 miles would be harmed.  Things are far worse now, since the population around Limerick has increased dramatically in the past 35 years.

Thomas Sullivan, Montgomery County Director of Public Safety, testified at a public hearing for Limerick Nuclear Plant relicensing in 2011 that many local, county, and state roads used for evacuation that feed the local highways were no longer suitable for the amount of traffic that Limerick’s EPZ evacuation could produce.  Traffic conditions have worsened, yet in 2015 Thomas Sullivan, claimed, “Because of the Limerick generating plant, we have robust plans…” (Mercury 2-23-15), dismissing potential dangers associated with the transport of crude oil.  The serious problems and flaws with Limerick’s Emergency and Evacuation plans have been ignored by Mr. Sullivan and others.

WILLFUL BLINDNESS IS JEOPARDIZING OUR FUTURE, ESPECIALLY WITH THE ADDED RISK FROM A BOMB TRAIN DISASTER