ACE Blog 8 Tell NRC and Elected Officials Until Limerick Closes, Changes Must be Made to the Evacuation Plan

ACE Video / Blog Part 8
April, 2013

TELL NRC AND ALL ELECTED OFFICIALS, UNTIL LIMERICK CLOSES, CHANGES MUST BE MADE TO LIMERICK’S
EVACUATION PLAN!

1. IMMEDIATE NOTIFICATION OF ACCIDENTAL RADIATION RELEASES.
• Establish INDEPENDENT radiation monitoring so the public can be informed immediately when Limerick has a higher than usual radiation release.
• Independent Regional Radiation Monitoring and Reporting Program For Limerick Nuclear Plant Radiation Releases, With Continuous Radiation Data Posted In Real Time On County Emergency Management Websites.
• Immediate Notification to the public of radiation levels exceeding background levels for more than one hour. Public notification should be made through the emergency broadcast system plus recorded notification message to telephones.
• Provide an immediate electronic public alert system for higher than usual radiation releases.

2. EXPAND LIMERICK’S EVACUTION ZONE TO 50 MILES
• Demand that Limerick’s evacuation zone be expanded to 50 miles, to better protect the health and financial interests of millions of people.
• Fukushima made it clear that high levels of radiation travel far more than 10 miles.
• U.S. citizens in Japan were advised to evacuate 50 miles from Fukushima.

3. EXPAND LIMERICK’S INGESTION PATHWAY ZONE TO 100 MILES
• Demand that Limerick’s ingestion pathway zone be expanded to 100 miles, to reduce radiation exposure to millions from radioactive food, water, and soil.
• Dangerous levels of radiation have been detected over 160 miles from Fukushima in water, soil, and food.
• Radioactive water and food cannot safely be consumed. Limiting use of radioactive food and water can minimize unnecessary risk of cancer and other diseases and disabilities .

YOUR VOICE IS URGENTLY NEEDED!
CONTACT LOCAL, STATE, AND FEDERAL OFFICIALS IN THE GREATER PHILADELPHIA REGION.
WITHOUT YOUR VOICE, THERE WILL BE NO CHANGES.
IT CAN HAPPEN HERE!

LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT CAN HAVE CATACLYSMIC MULTIPLE MELTDOWNS LIKE FUKUSHIMA.

• Fukushima revealed that multiple meltdowns could occur at Limerick Nuclear Plant too. With reactors and fuel pools like those that exploded at Fukushima, Limerick could release large amounts of radiation.

• It only takes loss of power and cooling water. Loss of power and water could be triggered by earthquakes, other natural disasters, cyber attacks, human error, terrorist attacks with planes or missiles, a host of safety and age-related structure and parts problems, mechanical breakdown, corrosion and aging of miles of buried pipes carrying highly radioactive, corrosive, and heated fluids.

MILLIONS IN THE GREATER PHILADELPHIA REGION COULD BECOME NUCLEAR REFUGEES, POTENTIALLY LOSING THEIR HEALTH, HOMES, BUSINESSES, JOBS, AND ALL THEIR POSSESSIONS.

Evidence from Fukushima and Chernobyl show the Radioactive Plume from Limerick Meltdowns would travel far beyond the arbitrary 10-Mile Evacuation Zone. Hundreds of thousands of our children would be transported to radioactive locations just outside the 10 miles.

• Radiation can start escaping off-site within 1/2 hour of a Limerick accident. Yet, Exelon is not required to immediately notify the public. History shows NRC waited days or weeks to notify the public. History shows the truth about the amount and kinds of radiation released will not be fully disclosed to the public until days or weeks later, if ever.

• In a severe Limerick radiation release, moving away from the plume as quickly as possible is imperative to limit radiation exposure and threats to health. Remaining in traffic far too long while exposed to Limerick’s radioactive plume can result in radiation sickness short term. Long-term it can result in increased cancers and many other diseases and disabilities.

• Massive populations on crowded roads, with bottlenecks and accidents, would create widespread chaos, anxiety, and fear. Normal Route 422 Traffic Jams Speak Volumes.

• NRC and elected officials knew In 1980, before Limerick construction was completed, that we had double the population density that could evacuate safely. Since then, population increased over 100%. Just as today, NO agency or elected official spoke out to protect public health, safety, and financial interests.

• FINANCIAL INJUSTICE. Millions of people in the Greater Philadelphia Region could become nuclear refugees losing their health, homes, businesses, and all their possessions. Over 8 million people live within 50 miles of Limerick Nuclear Plant.

• People cannot expect to be compensated for loss of personal property, including homes that would become permanently uninhabitable and businesses that would be unusable. In fact, industry and government could be expected to minimize all compensation costs for evacuated victims and would resist evacuating other victims outside the 10-mile zone to avoid costs. Victims outside the 10-mile evacuation zone wouldn’t even be compensated for temporary housing, even though they would still be in the dangerous radioactive plume.

• It is unclear which agencies are responsible for every aspect of a Limerick radiation accident / meltdown. NRC is already trying to claim no responsibility for off-site radiation. In Japan, the nuclear company claimed they had no responsibility for off-site clean-up.
The ACE Video-Blog Series Should Serve As A Wake-Up Call To Millions In The Greater Philadelphia Region, Related To Limerick Nuclear Plant’s Negligent Emergency and Evacuation Planning.

• This series identifies problems and flaws with Limerick’s Emergency and Evacuation plans.
• It provides evidence of NRC’s historical and current failures and corruption in policies and decision making that compromise and further jeopardize millions of people whose lives could be harmed or ruined permanently as the result of a Limerick Nuclear Plant Radioactive Accident and/or Meltdown.
• It reveals how NRC is refusing to make changes to evacuation planning that could actually reduce radiation exposures to millions in a radiation accident and/or meltdown.
• It reveals why our elected officials must demand a system for immediate independent public notification of a Limerick accidental radioactive release, and demand expanded evacuation and ingestion pathway zones.

The Alliance For A Clean Environment www.acereport.org
January to April, 2013

Part 1 – Reveals NRC’s Pared Down Emergency and Evacuation Plans Even After Lessons From Fukushima

Part 2 – Supports the Need for Immediate Notification And Expanded Evacuation and Ingestion Pathway
Zones

Part 3 – Reveals The Truth and Consequences of Radiation Exposure From Nuclear Plant Accidents or
Meltdowns

Part 4 – Reveals What Really Happened After Fukushima, Chernobyl, and TMI Meltdowns

Part 5 – Reveals The Financial Injustice To The Public From A Radiation Accident / Meltdown

Parts 6 and 7 – Reveal Fatal Flaws In Emergency – Evacuation Plans for Limerick Nuclear Power Plant

Part 8 – Identifies What Must Be Done to Minimize Radiation Risks From A Limerick Radiation Accident
or Meltdown

The Purpose Of This Series Is Minimizing Chaos And Reducing Radiation Exposure By Improving Limerick Nuclear Plant’s Fatally Flawed And Inadequate Emergency and Evacuation Plans.

1) IMMEDIATE NOTIFICATION OF ACCIDENTAL RADIATION RELEASES.
2) EXPAND LIMERICK’S EVACUTION ZONE TO 50 MILES
3) EXPAND LIMERICK’S INGESTION PATHWAY ZONE TO 100 MILES

YOUR VOICE IS URGENTLY NEEDED!

CONTACT LOCAL, STATE, AND FEDERAL OFFICIALS IN THE GREATER PHILADELPHIA REGION. WITHOUT YOUR VOICE, THERE WILL BE NO CHANGES.

ACE Video Blog 7 Analysis of Exelon’s Evacuation time Estimate (ETE) for Limerick

ACE Video/Blog – Part 7
April, 2013

ACE ANALYSIS OF:
Exelon’s Evacuation Time Estimate (ETE) For Limerick Nuclear Plant’s Plume Exposure Pathway Emergency Planning

ACE requested a copy of Exelon’s most recent 12/12 “Evacuation Time Estimate” (ETE), hoping to find ways to improve on unprotective evacuation plans for Limerick Nuclear Plant. Unfortunately, after careful review of Exelon’s ETE, we are more concerned than ever. This report confirms that safe and timely evacuation is an illusion.

This plan will result in extended radiation exposures, further jeopardizing health and safety for millions in the Greater Philadelphia Region, in the event of a Limerick Nuclear Plant radiation accident / meltdown.

Exelon’s ETE is self-serving fiction based on unrealistic, unworkable suppositions, assumptions, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies, with fact-free spin and illogical conclusions. Exelon’s letter accompanying its ETE concludes with: “There are no commitments in this letter”. That disclaimer speaks volumes.

Exelon’s ETE is a logistic fantasy that is clearly not either realistic or feasible. NRC officials for Limerick had not even evaluated Exelon’s ETE as of the NRC meeting 3-21-13. Any elected official in the region who reviews Exelon’s ETE objectively, should be alarmed. Exelon’s 12/12 ETE should be rejected by elected officials and NRC.

Elected and agency officials knew in 1980 that the population density around Limerick made safe evacuation impossible. They should have stopped Limerick construction. Since 1980, the region’s population soared, making an impossible situation far worse. It’s long past time for elected officials and NRC to protect the public’s health and financial interests, instead of Exelon’s profits.

Based on the impossibility of safe evacuation, NRC can and must shut Limerick down before it melts down.

OF GREATEST CONCERN: CHILDREN
More Than 65,000 Children In Limerick’s 10-Mile Evacuation Zone (Attending Over 230 Schools and Day-Cares) Could Be Transported To Reception Centers Just Outside Limerick’s 10-Mile Evacuation Zone.
Reception Centers Would Likely Still Be In Limerick’s Radioactive Plume.

MOST CHILDREN COULD BE TRANSPORTED TO RECEPTION CENTERS STILL IN LIMERICK’S RADIOACTIVE PLUME .

TO HAVE ANY HOPEOF MINIMIZING RADIATION EXPOSURE FOR OUR CHILDREN, RECEPTION CENTERS FOR EVACUEES SHOULD BE PLANNED AT LEAST 50 MILES AWAY BASED ON EVIDENCE FROM CHERNOBYL AND FUKUSHIMA.

• Based on evidence from Fukushima and Chernobyl meltdowns, Limerick Nuclear Plant’s 10-mile evacuation zone must be increased to at least 50 miles to keep vast numbers of children from unnecessary radiation exposure and the many health harms, including cancers, that would result from a Limerick Nuclear Plant radioactive accident / meltdown.

• Exelon’s ETE for Limerick, Unnecessarily Exposes Far Too Many Children To Limerick’s Radioactive Plume For Far Too Long. Reception centers are not far enough outside the 10 mile EPA. Most would still be in Limerick’s radioactive plume. Many mass care centers planned for Limerick evacuees could also still be impacted by Limerick’s radiation.
­
Evidence from Chernobyl and Fukushima meltdowns prove evacuating children just beyond 10 miles is negligent. NRC evacuated U.S. citizens that were within 50 miles of the Fukushima meltdowns.
­Children far outside Fukushima’s 12-mile evacuation zone experienced radiation sickness symptoms.
­Children over 40 miles away have radiation in their bodies at doses 20 times above recommended safety limits. Vast numbers of Chernobyl children, far distances from the meltdown, experienced devastating diseases and disabilities, especially leukemia, other cancers, and heart problems. See ACE Blog #4 about what really happened at Fukushima and Chernobyl www.acereport.org

• Exelon’s ETE plus ACE’s school mapping of Limerick’s 10-mile evacuation zone show there are over 230 schools, pre-schools, and day-care centers. It is difficult to account for all public and private pre-schools, day-cares, and schools. Most day-cares and pre-schools have no emergency plans.

• Some school districts straddle the 10-mile EPZ radius. That creates a different set of problems.
­For example, parents of Methacton School District students believe that all of the school district is in the evacuation plan because all schools in the district are included on Exelon’s mailed evacuation brochure. However, Exelon’s ETE, which most parents won’t see, places Methacton High School outside Limerick’s evacuation zone. This causes confusion for school district officials, parents, teachers, and students.

SCHOOL BUSES

 IT APPEARS EXELON’S ETE GROSSLY OVERESTIMATES SCHOOL BUSES AND CERTIFIED DRIVERS AVAILABLE FOR EVACUATION.

• Over 65,000 children would need to be evacuated.
• All children are assumed to be evacuated from all schools simultaneously. However, in reality, there are not enough school buses or certified drivers to evacuate all children from all schools simultaneously.
• We can only conclude that thousands of children would be left behind. Currently, many school busses make two separate trips every day – 1 trip for Elementary and 1 trip for Secondary Schools Within Districts. This fact is not addressed in Exelon’s ETE. Currently, public school districts are also responsible for bussing private school students. This factor is also not addressed. Complicating the problem, many bus drivers admit they wouldn’t return for a second trip.

DISCREPANCY:

1,224 ESTIMATED BUSES NEEDED (Page 1-9)
1,388 CHARTED BY SPECIFIC SCHOOLS (Pages 6-18 to 6-22)

PROBLEMS BEYOND THE 164 – BUS SHORTFALL:
• NO buses or drivers are planned for the schools and day-cares missed by Exelon’s ETE.
• Availability of certified licensed school bus drivers assumed in Exelon’s ETE is questionable at best.
• Assumed vehicle availability along with perfectly modeled traffic patterns make this ETE unworkable to protect children in a Limerick radiation accident / meltdown.
• Residential students from the Hill School and Ursinus College (possibly well over 1,000) are not even included in Exelon’s Time Estimate.

DISCREPANCY:

WHY SUCH A HUGE DISPCREPANCY WITHIN EXELON’S ETE?
­ Page 6-17 Itemized Total 1,706 Vehicles Needed For Hospitals, Nursing Homes, Retirement Communities and Other Special Facilities
­ Page 1-9 Their narrative total for the current study shows 442 vehicles needed

EXELON’S ETE ESTIMATES FOR AMBULANCES AND VANS:

 1,706 AMBULANCES and VANS NEEDED
(To Assume That Such A Large Number Would Be Available Simultaneously Defies Logic.)

EXELON’S ETE CONVERSELY CLAIMS:

 ONLY 442 AMBULANCES AND VANS ARE NEEDED (PAGE 1-9),

EXAMPLES FROM THE ITEMIZED LIST OF 1706
 Pottstown Hospital – ETE Lists 332 Ambulances / Vans Needed
 Phoenixville Hospital – 82 Ambulances and Vans

Pottstown Hospital Is Within 1 Mile Of Limerick. Phoenixville Hospital Is Also Within The 10-Mile Zone. Both Would Need To Be Evacuated Immediately.
Exelon’s ETE says 332 Ambulances / Vans would be available for Pottstown Hospital, and 82 would be available for Phoenixville Hospital.
­ Where would all these Ambulances / Vans, and Drivers come from to evacuate simultaneously?
­ There is no medical reception center specified in Exelon’s ETE to accommodate large numbers of patients requiring specialized care. Where would so many patients from several hospitals and nursing homes be evacuated to?
­ Some patients could become highly radioactive during an extended evacuation and be rejected by hospitals or other facilities, as the radioactive people were in Japan.

EXAMPLES FROM THE ITEMIZED LIST OF 1706 ALSO INCLUDE:
 Montgomery County Rehabilitation Center – 330 Ambulances and Vans
 Veterans Center – 146 Ambulances and Vans

INCONSISTENCY WITH PRISONS

Montgomery County Prison – 100 Vans and Buses (1,200 Inmates)
­ Where will all these prisoners go? There is no destination designated for these prisoners.

Graterford Prison Would NOT Be Evacuated. Instead Graterford Prisoners And Guards Are Supposed To Shelter In Place.
­ There is no mention of what will happen with guards and other prison employees.
­ How will prisoners sustain themselves if all employees evacuate?

Exelon’s ETE States 1,706 Ambulances and Vans Would Be Available Simultaneously To Evacuate In A Timely Manner.

 ACE’s CONCLUSION:
To assert that 1,706 ambulances and vans would be available simultaneously is beyond irresponsible.

OTHER CONCERNS:

EXELON’S ETE UNDERESTIMATES TRANSIT-DEPENDENT POPULATION:

Exelon’s ETE drastically underestimated people without cars in places like Pottstown, Royersford, and Collegeville.

• Exelon’s ETE Listed Only 4500 People (.015% of 292,061 Population) As Transit Dependent Population Determined To Be Within Limerick’s 10 Mile Evacuation Zone By Exelon’s Report (Section 5.3 on Page 5-3)
­4,500 is .015% of the estimated 292,061 population, a gross understatement of what could be a significant need.
­ Exelon’s report unbelievably suggests that 99.985% of people in Limerick’s 10-mile evacuation zone would have access to vehicles to evacuate.
­ Exelon’s ETE requires 150 Bus Trips To Evacuate People With No Transportation (Page 1-9).
 ACE CONCLUSION: This defies logic!

EXELON’S ETE MUNICIPAL PICK-UP POINTS ARE UNREALISTIC
• The ETE required residents to call township, borough, or local officials to find out schedule of pick up points.
­ People who work for boroughs and townships are likely to want to evacuate immediately with their families, not man phones.
­ PROBLEM: The list of municipal pick-up points that are in Exelon’s mailed brochure for Montgomery County are all in Pottstown. What happens to people in Royersford and Collegeville? If they have no transportation, how do they get to Pottstown?
­ If the radiation accident / meltdown occurs from a natural disaster like an earthquake, contacting officials could become impossible because of loss of power.

EXELON’S ETE TELEPHONE SURVEY THAT WAS THE BASIS FOR DETERMINING RESIDENTIAL VEHICLE AVAILABILITY WAS NOT REPRESENTATIVE.

• Telephone Survey On Residential Vehicles Available For Evacuation (Appendix B – Pages 1-7)
­ The sample was too small to make valid conclusions.
 Only .001 % of residents responded.
 Only 317 responses were analyzed out of 292,000 total households.
 Approximately 64% of the 317 were 55 years old or older.

- Survey Questions Failed To Accurately Identify Residential Vehicle Needs
 Survey questions were centered on who in the family is working, how many vehicles they have, how long it would take to get to work and home, and what shift people worked.
 ETE surveyors should have asked if that resident would have another vehicle available if other family members didn’t come home.
PROBLEMS:
 Questions were omitted concerning household vehicles used by workers who were teachers or healthcare workers required to stay with students or patients by Exelon’s ETE.
 Teachers would go to host center with students. Health care workers are expected to stay with patients or shelter in place.
 Prison workers would be required to evacuate with prisoners or shelter in place with them.

ETE’S BLINKING LIGHTS AT INTERSECTIONS COULD CONTRIBUTE TO CONFUSION, CONGESTION,AND ACCIDENTS.

• Blinking Lights – (Page 4-2)
Exelon’s ETE Requires Manual Override of Traffic Lights by Undesignated Officials, supposedly to alleviate bottleneck points. In reality, under emergency conditions, a blinking signal would not alleviate congestion, but instead contribute to confusion, increased congestion, and accidents.

CONFUSION CREATED BY EXELON’S ETE HINDERS SAFE LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT EVACUATION

• Traffic Congestion – (Page E-3)
The ETE fails to assume worst case scenarios where traffic is stopped all together by adverse weather conditions or traffic accidents. At the most it assumes that the worst case scenario would add only 160 minutes due to adverse winter weather.

• Traffic Estimates for Employees of Many Businesses Were Excluded From Total Vehicle Estimates (Appendix A, Page 6 of 13)
­ For example: Under the list of major employers, many businesses which contribute to traffic congestion are excluded, including diners, restaurants, convenience stores.
­ Examples: Costco, Wawa and Turkey Hill Convenience Stores, Gas Stations, Banks, Car Dealers, Movie Theaters, Restaurants, Library
­ Numbers of vehicles from these businesses would clearly affect roadway congestion and traffic patterns during evacuation.

• Recreation and Shopping (Appendix A Page 8 of 13)
­ Estimates for numbers of people at shopping centers appear to be substantially underestimated.
­ Some parks have been overlooked. For example, Manatawny Park, Riverfront Park in Pottstown, Manderach Park in Limerick, and other local parks.

• Train Traffic – Possible Complications Not Addressed
­ There seem to be NO specific plans addressing train traffic for some of which carries hazardous materials, that goes through the Limerick site.
­ Would train traffic be stopped to facilitate evacuation?

Problems Created By Exelon’s ETE Faulty Assumptions:

• The worst problem of all is that this report places little priority on limiting radiation exposure to evacuees.
• Exelon’s ETE covers a 16-hour evacuation period (Appendix D – Maps of Average Speed by Hour for Road Network Pages 1-16.
• Each hour of exposure to Limerick’s radiation during an accident / meltdown critically impacts the health of residents, especially fetuses and children.

• Exelon’s ETE is a shameless sham that satisfies a regulatory requirement with little regard for reality. Exelon’s ETE includes 100 pages of filler devoted to the unrealistic expectation that its assigned speed limits will be maintained during evacuation on the roads listed and that volumes of traffic will not be exceeded. (Appendix C – Roadway Network Data Table – Pages 1 to 100)

• Exelon’s ETE allows too much time to elapse between public notification and actual evacuation.
­This is about radiation exposure. Yet, initial notification could bypass residents until a response work force is brought in. People living near Limerick would be exposed to radiation the whole time, as long as that takes. (Section 5.2 – Page 5-3) The ETE time lapse warning process means the last 10% to 20% of the population learns too late that an evacuation order has been given.

• Time estimates are based on Exelon’s self-serving proposition that there will be no deviations from the plan. Survival instincts will compel people to flee in ways not anticipated in this ETE.

• Exelon assumes school, hospital, and other employees are going to abandon their loved ones to get on buses and ambulances and follow this plan to the letter. Exelon requires people to abandon their natural instincts to care for their families.

ACE Conclusions:

Exelon’s Self-Serving ETE Is Unworkable, Unprotective, and Irresponsible.

Exelon’s ETE confirms that Exelon still has no plan to safely evacuate the millions of people surrounding Limerick Nuclear Plant.

Exelon hasn’t produced an evacuation plan that ensures safe, timely evacuation from within 10 miles of Limerick Nuclear Plant.

Therefore, it is impossible to produce a plan for a 50-mile evacuation zone, which Fukushima has proven is minimally necessary to protect public health and safety..

To prevent unnecessary environmental devastation and health harm for millions, Limerick Nuclear Plant should close as soon as possible to prevent such a catastrophe from happening in the first place.

To Better Understand What We Could Face After A Limerick Radiation Accident / Meltdown, See ACE Video Blog At www.acereport.org – Part 4, For The Truth About Consequences Of Chernobyl and Fukushima Meltdowns.

Major Problems With Limerick’s Current Evacuation Plan:

1. A broad range of extremely dangerous radionuclides would be released in the radiation plume from a Limerick accident/meltdown. Yet, Exelon’s ETE is not based on radiation exposure risk. Emergency workers are not required to practice for a radiological event. This ETE shows why vast numbers of people would be harmed, why Limerick must close to prevent this unnecessary risk, and why even after Limerick is closed we must have truly effective evacuation plans.

2. NRC Should Require Exelon To Notify The Public Immediately In The Event Of A Limerick Nuclear Accident / Meltdown. Radiation Releases Could Start Within The First 1/2 Hour.
• PROBLEM: Radiation is invisible. You can’t smell it, taste it , feel it, or see it.
• NRC should not allow Exelon to wait hours or days. It took 3 days before officials told people to evacuate after TMI.
• Radiation sickness symptoms that would occur within 1 to 24 hours would mimic flu-like symptoms (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, fever). People wouldn’t realize it was from radiation exposure.
• Exelon’s track record suggests the public won’t be notified until Exelon can no longer hide the accident and can manipulate the messaging. For example, Exelon waited 23 days to notify the public about the 3-19-12 radioactive spill into the drinking water for almost 2 million people from Limerick to Philadelphia.
• Likely, there wouldn’t be an explosion. Increasing radiation could be pouring into our air and water, poisoning us and our life support systems, and go undetected by us. Radiation is invisible and odorless. We can’t see, smell, taste, or feel radiation.
• Radiation exposure symptoms within 1 to 4 weeks could also mistaken for other problems (dizziness, disorientation, weakness, fatigue, bloody vomit and stools, infections, poor wound healing, low blood pressure, and hair loss).
• Long-term radiation damage, such as tumors and cancer, could take years to develop.
• To minimize disaster, immediate evacuation is imperative and the public must heed the first warnings. This statement was made after Fukushima by Michael Chertoff, previous Homeland Security director.

3. Evidence proves Limerick Nuclear Plant’s radiation plume would travel far beyond our current 10-mile evacuation zone, yet:
• NRC is inexplicable and negligently refusing to expand Limerick’s evacuation zone to 50 miles as they did for U.S. citizens in Japan after Fukushima meltdowns.
• NRC is also refusing to expand our ingestion pathway zone from 50 to 100 miles, even though soil, food, water, buildings, animals, and people have documented to be radioactive far beyond 50 miles in Japan.

4. Evidence from actual meltdowns shows most people would be evacuating to centers inside highly radioactive areas, even though they go outside the 10 mile evacuation zone from Limerick.
• Children are the most impacted victims, far more vulnerable to impacts of radiation than adults.
• Children should be moved as far as possible, at least 50 miles away from Limerick in a radiation accident / meltdown.

5. A massive population would be trying to move on over-crowded roads where there would likely be bottlenecks and accidents that would extend the time people are forced to be exposed to Limerick’s radioactive plume,
• There would be widespread chaos, fear, and anxiety.
• Bus Drivers, first responders, and police would face enormous challenges as they attempt to manage and control certain chaos and gridlock on virtually every road in the region.

ACE talked to vast numbers of people in the community. Below are concerns expressed by some of them.
Many people do not realize what would be expected of them.

For example, ACE found most people would expect to evacuate with their families. However, workers at many institutions will be expected to remain behind to care for children, the elderly, prisoners, or patients.
• Health care staff would be expected to remain at their facilities to assist in the care and supervision of patients.
• Teachers would be expected to travel with their children to the locations just outside the 10-mile zone – likely still in the radioactive plume.
• Some prison workers would be expected to shelter in place with the prisoners.
• Municipal office workers in the heavily populated towns (where many people have no cars, like Pottstown, Royersford, Phoenixville, etc.) would be expected to remain in the building for hours, taking calls directing people to locations to wait for buses to evacuate them. Buses likely won’t even come for many.
• Pre-school workers would be expected to remain with the children until parents get there to pick up their children. That could take hours or may be impossible due to chaos.

Assumptions that just won’t work in reality:

• By the time people are notified, they will already have been exposed to radiation releases. Radiation can start escaping in the first 1/2 hour after an accident, but Exelon is not required, and likely won’t, immediately notify the public. People remained unnecessarily exposed far too long before being told to evacuate from Chernobyl and Fukushima.
• Hospitals would be unprepared and unable to treat so many victims of radiation sickness. Some victims could become so radioactive they would be turned away from hospitals and emergency care facilities outside the evacuation zone, as happened in Japan.
• Evacuation plans for schools assume parents will not rush to pick up their children. That just isn’t realistic. Most parents say that is just what they will do.
• Some school plans are contradictory. One school sent home a letter stating parents couldn’t pick up their children, but also told parents where to wait when picking them up.
• Most school bus drivers say that even if they could transport their first load of children to reception centers, they wouldn’t and couldn’t come back for the second.
• Emergency responders may be out in radioactive plumes for hours.
• There are not enough qualified drivers for school buses, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles, even if there were enough vehicles (which there are not).
• There are conflicts of roles for police officers, bus drivers, and first responders. They face challenges of whether to save themselves and their families or stay and save others. This becomes most difficult with a nuclear accident spewing radiation into the air.

CONTACT ALL ELECTED OFFICIALS

URGE ALL OFFICIALS TO:

1. DEMAND THAT LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT CLOSE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO PREVENT A MELTDOWN

UNTIL LIMERICK CLOSES DEMAND:

2. IMMEDIATE NOTIFICATION OF LIMERICK RADIATION ACCIDENT

3. EVACUATION ZONE EXPANDED TO 50 MILES

4. INGESTION PATHWAY ZONE EXPANDED TO 100 MILES

ACE Video Blog 5 on Financial Injustice $$ & Limerick Nuclear Plant


Video / Blog
Part 5

Financial Injustice To The Public
Related To A Nuclear Plant Radiation Accident / Meltdown

Taxpayers Unfairly Saddled With Staggering Financial Burden by Congressional Act

• The Price Anderson Act Guarantees The Nuclear Industry That It Won’t Have To Pay More Than $12 Billion for a U.S. Nuclear Plant Accident / Meltdown.
 NRC documents suggest that Exelon is only required to set aside $375 MILLION in preparation for a meltdown.
 As of 2012, Exelon has only set aside $223.8 MILLION of the $375 MILLION.

• NRC and Independent Experts Agree That A Nuclear Plant Meltdown Would Cost At Least $1 Trillion.

The Evacuation Zone Becomes A Key Factor In Which Victims Even Have An Opportunity To Apply For Temporary Housing, Reimbursement Costs For Lost Property and Possessions, or Relocation Costs.
 Evacuation costs are calculated on the number of people living in the evacuation area.
 Cost is an obvious reason NRC is refusing to require Exelon to expand Limerick Nuclear Plant’s evacuation zone, even after Fukushima proved expanded evacuation and ingestion pathway zones are needed to protect public health and safety.

• Taxpayers Are Unfairly Burdened With The Lion’s Share (Almost $900 Billion) Of The $1 Trillion Cost.

With a shrinking federal budget and high national debt, it is doubtful that hundreds of billions of dollars would be provided for compensation claims from nuclear refugees.
 Note the difficulty of getting $60 billion from Congress for victims of Hurricane Sandy.
 Some in the Gulf still haven’t been fully compensated for loss of property and businesses for the BP oil spill.
These disasters were highly visible and still victims are not being fully compensated.

With a nuclear meltdown, radiation is invisible.
 Radiation from a meltdown would cause unprecedented long-term harmful health impacts and decades of environment devastation.
 Just as in Japan, nuclear refugees would be lose everything.
 Survivors would have a difficult time even getting temporary housing, let alone compensation for relocation and long-term medical care.

Other Costs and Consequences to the Public

Once a large amount of radiation enters an ecosystem, it quickly becomes widespread, contaminating water, soil, plants and animals making a large area around the nuclear plant an uninhabitable dead zone for generations. Nuclear refugees can lose everything they own. Homes inside the exclusion zone would be uninhabitable but owners may be forced to continue to make mortgage payments. Those outside the declared evacuation zone where radiation levels are still dangerously high, would not even get modest compensation to cover costs of living as evacuees. Only the wealthy could afford to escape radiation exposure.

No Agency Wants Responsibility for Attempting Clean Up After a Nuclear Disaster. Agencies Ignore or Miss the Fact That Nuclear “Accidents” NEVER End.
• No agency admits the obvious – that a nuclear plant radiation accident / meltdown is likely to be impossible to clean up.
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) struggle to determine which agency, and with what money and legal authority, would oversee cleanup in the event of a large-scale accident at a nuclear power plant that disperses radiation over vast areas impacted by meltdowns.
• NRC informed the other agencies that it does not plan to take the lead in overseeing such a cleanup and that money in an industry-funded insurance account for nuclear accidents would likely not be available – According to documents obtained by Inside EPA under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). (Request Part 1, Request Part 2)
• Refusal to even address the issues – Questions regarding whether or how EPA or others would attempt a clean-up after a nuclear power plant incident were “based on hypothetical situations / scenarios” and that EPA could not “give an assessment on something that [was] hypothetical.”
Source: “Agencies Struggle To Craft Offsite Cleanup Plan For Nuclear Power Accidents” November 10, 2010 http://insideepa.com/Inside-EPA-General/Inside-EPA-Public-Content/agencies-struggle-to-craft-offsite-cleanup-plan-for-nuclear-power-accidents/menu-id-565.html (Published 09/11/11)

Evacuees Escaping Radiation Become Nuclear Refugees.
• A Radioactive Accident / Meltdown creates a dead zone, where homes and properties are uninhabitable for generations.
• People whose homes and businesses are in the “Dead Zone” lose their homes, businesses, and possessions.
• Evidence shows that “Dead Zones” go far beyond 10-miles, Limerick’s current evacuation zone.
• People outside the 10-Mile evacuation zone who suffer the same damages inside the designated evacuation zone would get NO compensation.
• Tragically, many people could NOT move because they could NOT afford to rent or buy another home.
• Homeowners insurance is NOT available to residents and small business owners to cover sustained losses from a Limerick Nuclear Plant radiological accident.
• Currently, even in the 10-Mile Evacuation Zone, there seems to be NO specific plan for temporary housing for the hundreds of thousands of people for as long as needed, much less full reimbursement for displacement.

FINANCIAL QUESTIONS THAT MUST BE ANSWERED BEFORE A LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT RADIOACTIVE ACCIDENT / MELTDOWN:
• Which agency is in charge of providing funding for temporary housing for the hundreds of thousands of evacuated residents within the 10-mile evacuation zone?
 Which federal agency would be responsible to oversee claims? NRC, EPA, or FEMA?
 Is there reimbursement compensation guaranteed to victims from the evacuation / dead zone?
 What proof would home and business owners need to produce to validate the legitimacy of claims for loss of radioactive property and possessions?
 The gulf disaster shows why Exelon, Limerick’s owner, can’t be left to control the process.

• Victims of a nuclear disaster should anticipate lengthy delays in receiving compensation, compared to victims of Hurricane Sandy, where even when a clear plan was established prior to the disaster, and people were forced to wait months for reimbursement.

• Inside the Limerick Nuclear Plant 10-Mile Evacuation Zone, hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars would be needed to compensate victims for losses due to radioactive contamination of:
 Homes – Personal property – Furniture – Vehicles
 Private insurers do not cover radioactive contaminated property or possessions due to a Limerick Nuclear Plant radiation accident / meltdown.
 Will home owners and business owners be obligated to continue to pay mortgages for radioactive properties that can’t be safely occupied? Homeowners are obligated to continue paying mortgages on radiation uninhabitable properties in Japan.

• Anyone with a job once held in the evacuation zone would lose their livelihood.
 How would they pay for new living expenses following a meltdown?
 In this highly populated Philadelphia Region, especially during a recession, how would the millions of evacuated victims find new jobs?

• How could business owners from evacuation zones be fully compensated for:
 Loss of Income from Operations?
 Loss of A Building or Plant For Safe Operations?
 Loss of Business Equipment and Vehicles?
 Farmland?

• Who would pay the astronomical medical expenses for hundreds of thousands or even millions of people who may need:
 Treatment For Radiation Sickness?
 Long -Term Medical Treatment for the broad range of human health impacts, in addition to cancer, resulting from radiation exposure after a meltdown, such as those suffered after Chernobyl?

• Who would pay for:
 Final expenses and burial costs?

• Local governments, police and fire departments whose facilities are also radioactive will need to move their operations
 Will Exelon or taxpayers bear the costs?

• Who will pay to evacuate hospitals that are in the evacuation zone like Pottstown and Phoenixville?
 Who pays for emergency responders and the radiation-protective gear that would be needed for such a massive rescue effort?

• Would the industrial rail line which runs directly through the Limerick Nuclear Plant site have to be closed down?
 How would that impact other businesses?
Fukushima’s Financial Meltdown
Costs and Consequences of Fukushima Provide Evidence of What Could Happen Here

The precise value of the abandoned cities, towns, agricultural lands, businesses, homes and property located within the roughly 310 square miles of the exclusion (“dead”) zone has not even been established. Independent experts say industry estimates of economic loss are grossly underestimated, to date, ranging from $250-$500 billion U.S.

September 2012, Fukushima officials stated that 159,128 people had been evicted from the exclusion (“dead”) zones, losing their homes and virtually all their possessions. (That was a sparsely populated area compared to our Philadelphia Region.)
• Most have received only a small compensation to cover their costs of living as evacuees.
• Many are forced to make mortgage payments on the homes they left inside the exclusion zones.
• In the beginning, they were not told that their homes will never again be habitable.
• TEPCO, Fukushima’s owner, refuses to take responsibility to compensate people for the radioactive fallout destroying their homes, businesses, food, and water.
• The company actually claimed in court that radiation is no longer their responsibility once it spreads off-site.
• People outside the zone were not told to evacuate, even though radiation levels were extremely dangerous. Outside Japan’s official evacuation zone, people got NO compensation even for costs of living as evacuees.
• Only the wealthy could afford to evacuate and leave everything behind.

Efforts to clean up highly contaminated areas are failing.
• Melting snow and rainwater run off the contaminated hills and return to recontaminate homes and land.
• Diversion ditches have failed to stop the process.
• Areas significantly contaminated with radioactive cesium and other long-lived radionuclides can no longer sell and export agricultural crops.

News Articles Listed Below Show Government and TEPCO Exhibited Absolute Disregard For Victims.

Japanese Officials Exposed Their Own People To Dangerous Radiation And Financial Threats, Rather Than Expose TEPCO, Fukushima’s Owner, to Financial Risk.

• Over 13,000 File Second Criminal Complaint Against TEPCO. Reported 11-16-12
 TEPCO, owner of Fukushima reactors, faces prosecution for withholding crucial information that may have prevented some radiation exposures and for operating after being warned about the inadequacy of its protections against disasters.
 The criminal complaint was filed against Japanese government officials, 33 TEPCO executives, and experts for their role in the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
 TEPCO executives are accused of inadequate safety measures.
 People are demanding answers for the evacuation procedures and accountability for deaths due to the nuclear disaster.
 The complaint outlines professional negligence resulting in deaths and injuries and violation of Japan’s environmental laws.

• Fukushima Nuclear Plant Owner Added Insult to Injury – Claiming Radioactive Fallout Isn’t Theirs (Reported January 16, 2012)
 A Golf Club Demanding Decontamination of the Golf Course Hauled TEPCO into Tokyo District Court, Reported October 31, 2011
 TEPCO lawyers claimed the company isn’t liable because it no longer “owned” the radioactive poisons that were spewed from its destroyed reactors.
 TEPCO attorneys assert radiation from the meltdowns is now the property of each property owner.
• The Entire Fukushima City (50 Kilometers From Meltdowns) Needs To Be Decontaminated All Fukushima City Residents Outside the Evacuation Zone Are Expected To Decontaminate Their Own Radioactive Homes and Property Using Government Distributed Manuals.
 Why? To avoid clean-up costs for TEPCO, Fukushima’s owner
 These Japanese residents should have been evacuated. Instead they are being victimized to save money for the nuclear plant owner.

• The Japan Times Reported “Economic Meltdowns Begin” (6-14-11)

• Fallout from Fukushima Continues to Blight Japan’s Agricultural Heartlands, Authorities Revealed
(Reported 6-17-11)

• Tokyo Soil Samples From Public Parks, Playgrounds, and Rooftop Gardens (140 miles from Fukushima Meltdowns) Would Be Considered Nuclear Waste In The U.S. (Reported 4/30/12) http://www.fairewinds.com/content/tokyo-soil-samples-would-be-considered-nuclear-waste-us
• Farmers Lost Their Livelihoods – Crops Were Radioactive and Couldn’t Be Sold
Dairy Farmer Commits Suicide (Reported – June 13, 2011)
 He lost everything, thanks to the nuke plant. He already killed his cows and gave up on dairy farming.
He left a note, which said “If only there was no nuke plant…”
 There would be no compensation [from the government]. He was not in the evacuation zone.

• Over 2,500 Fukushima Farmers and Fisherman Suffered Heavy Losses Due to Fukushima Meltdowns
Fukushima Farmers and Fisherman Protested Over the Nuclear Crisis. They called for prompt compensation from TEPCO and Japan government. (Reported 8-13-11)

• Japanese Beef – Cattle Shipments Banned (Reported 8-2-11)

• Radiation Bankrupts Japanese Cattle Ranch with $5.6 Billion in Liabilities (Reported 8-23-11)

• Japan says it is ok for residents to return at 2,000 millirem / yr – 12-16-11
Some wonder what the eventual health costs will be.

• A Reporter Revealed The Financial Incentive For Japan To Deny Deaths Caused By Fukushima Meltdowns. (Reported 2-5-12) – http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120204003191.htm
Japanese government has to approve deaths claimed to be related to Fukushima. 634 deaths in one prefecture were cleared to undergo screening for being related to the nuclear disaster. Japan admits at least 573 deaths ‘related to nuclear crisis’.
 If a municipality certifies the cause of death is directly associated to a disaster, a condolence grant is paid to the victim’s family. Associated costs would include final burial.
 If the person was a breadwinner, 5 million yen is paid.

• Fukushima’s Owner, TEPCO, is seeking 2 Trillion Yen in Government Loans to Remain Solvent (Reported 1-12)
 TEPCO, owner of Fukushima power plant, has drastically underestimated costs for compensation and clean-up.
 TEPCO claims only $350 Billion in compensation and cleanup costs (Reported 1-12)

• (Reported 1-16-12) TEPCO Faces Prosecution:
 For Withholding crucial information that may have prevented some radiation exposures
 For operating Fukushima Nuclear Plant after being warned about the inadequacy of its protections against disasters

• Japan’s Environmental Ministry began a decontamination program with a budget of $4.8 billion for 2012 alone.
 A small army of workers were employed to scrape away top soil, denude trees and scrub down buildings in Okuma and other evacuated communities.
 The ministry admitted an experimental effort to decontaminate a 42-acre area in Okuma had failed to reduce radiation dosages by as much as had been hoped, leading officials to declare most of the town uninhabitable for at least another five years. Okuma’s officials target date for repopulating the town changed to 2022, instead of 2014.

Eight U.S. Sailors Sue Japan Over Fukushima
Courthouse News Service By ELIZABETH WARMERDAM 12-26-12
 The Fukushima nuclear disaster exposed Navy rescue workers on the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan to dangerous levels of radiation, which the government-owned power plant covered up.
 Sailors say they “face additional and irreparable harm to their life expectancy, which has been shortened and cannot be restored to its prior condition.”
 They seek $10 million in compensatory damages and $30 million in punitive damages for fraud, negligence, strict liability, failure to warn, public and private nuisance, and defective design.
 They also want TEPCO ordered to establish a fund of $100 million to pay for their medical expenses.
 The complaint says:
1) The Japanese government and TEPCO conspired to intentionally conceal dangerous levels of radiation in the environment of US Navy rescue crews working off the coast of Japan, to lull the U.S. Navy “into a false sense of security”. They lied through their teeth about the threat to human life from the meltdowns at Fukushima.
2) Radiation data shows radiation levels exceeded the levels of exposure to which those living the same distance from Chernobyl experienced who subsequently developed cancer.

A Few Of Chernobyl’s Large Economic Impacts Include:
• The disruption of large areas downwind of the radiation source due to evacuations
• Shutdown of plants and facilities
• Decontamination activities
• Impact of radiation on agriculture, especially the dairy industry
• Pollution of water supplies, especially downstream

Limerick Nuclear Plant Owners Financially Victimized Ratepayers and Taxpayers From The Beginning.

Limerick’s Past Financial Injustice To Ratepayers and Taxpayers Show Why We Should Be Concerned That Nuclear Refugees Would Be Financially Victimized After A Limerick Nuclear Plant Radioactive Accident / Meltdown.
A Few Examples:
1) Remember claims of having electric too cheap to meter? Our regions’ residents ended up paying 55% higher rates than the national average within ten years after Limerick started operating.
2) PECO originally estimated Limerick Nuclear Plant construction cost would be $326 million. Yet, PECO Ratepayers ended up paying $6.8 BILLION (between 1985 and 2010), which is why PECO electric bills were so high.
3) PECO / Exelon failed to pay any property taxes (1985 to 2002) on Limerick’s 600 acre property. In 1999, when finally urged to pay taxes, PECO ludicrously claimed the nuclear plant property was worth ZERO.
4) A judge in 2002 finally decided Exelon had to pay $3 million, but that was instead of the $17 million PECO should have been paying each year. Taxpayers were burdened with higher taxes because PECO / Exelon avoided paying their fair share.
5) Each month in electric bills ratepayers of our region pay Limerick Nuclear Plant’s projected astronomical decommissioning costs. Those costs to go higher. During the relicensing process NRC discovered that Exelon doesn’t have the total amount money it was required to set aside for decommissioning.
 It appears Exelon’s fund may be a small fraction of the estimated billions of dollars decommissioning would cost.
 Exelon significantly underestimated decommissioning costs. Sites elsewhere cost many billions more than Exelon is estimating.
 Exelon only guarantees $115 Million of what would be Billions.
(NRC’s 2-23-12 letter) Taxpayers would be forced to pay the rest.

We obviously can’t trust or depend on Exelon to pay for the astronomical financial consequences that would be inevitable if Limerick Nuclear Plant has a radioactive accident / meltdown.

Our Region Needs Up-Front Planning and Assurances

Multiple Meltdowns Can Happen At Limerick Nuclear Plant
Nuclear Refugees Would Lose Everything
And Need To Be Permanently Relocated

Millions In The Greater Philadelphia Region
Need Up-Front Planning and Financial Assurances For:

• Payments For Temporary Housing

• Full Compensation For Homes, Furniture, and Other Personal Possessions

• Forgiveness Of Payments On Mortgages For Radioactive Homes and Businesses

• Full Reimbursement For Radioactive Cars, Business Vehicles and Equipment, and Other Possessions Left Behind

• Full Compensation For Loss Of Employment For Jobs That Were Located In The Radioactive Dead Zone

• Health Care Expenses