Without fanfare, the nation’s 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 that fewer people be evacuated right away.
Nuclear watchdogs voiced surprise and dismay over the quietly adopted revamp — the first since the program began after the Three Mile Island incident in 1979. Several said they were unaware of the changes until now, though they took effect in December.
At least four years in the works, the changes appear to clash with the more recent lessons of last year’s reactor crisis in Japan. A mandate that local responders always run practice exercises for a radiation release has been eliminated, a move viewed as downright bizarre by some emergency planners.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which run the program together, have added one new exercise: More than a decade after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, state and community police will take part in exercises that prepare for a possible assault on their local plant.
Still, some emergency officials say this new exercise doesn’t go far enough.
These changes, while documented in obscure publications, went into effect with hardly any notice by the public.
Michael Mariotte, director of the anti-nuclear group Nuclear Information and Resource Service, normally tracks such rules carefully. This time, he learned of them from a reporter.
“Unless there are public-interest groups out there pointing to the things these agencies are doing, they generally prefer to be operating in quiet, especially if it’s likely to be controversial,” he said. “A typical American does not read the Federal Register.”
The Web archives of FEMA and the NRC show no news releases in December or January on the changes. The revisions took effect Dec. 23, at the peak of the holiday season, when Americans tend to focus on last-minute gift shopping and social gatherings.
An Associated Press investigative series last June exposed weaknesses in the U.S. emergency planning program. The stories detailed how many nuclear reactors are operating beyond their design life under rules that have been relaxed to account for deteriorating safety margins. The series also documented 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.
The latest changes, especially relaxed exercise plans for 50-mile emergency zones, are being flayed by some local planners and activists who say the widespread contamination in Japan from last year’s Fukushima nuclear accident screams out for stronger planning in the United States, not weaker rules.
FEMA officials say the revised standards introduce more variability into planning exercises and will help keep responders on their toes. The nuclear- power industry has praised the changes on similar grounds.
Onsite security forces at nuclear power plants have practiced defending against make-believe assaults since 1991 and increased the frequency of these drills after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The new exercises for community responders took years to consider and adopt with prolonged industry and government consultations that led to repeated drafts.
Federal personnel will now evaluate if state and local authorities have enough resources to handle a simultaneous security threat and radiation release.
