SAFE Carolinas is working to get a resolution passed with Asheville City Council and Buncombe County Commissioners to support the expansion of emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants. If you are interested in passing a resolution in your town, please contact us.
RESOLUTION TO SUPPORT EXPANSION OF EMERGENCY PLANNING ZONES AROUND NUCLEAR POWER REACTORS
RESOLUTION TO SUPPORT EXPANSION OF EMERGENCY PLANNING ZONES AROUND NUCLEAR POWER REACTORS
Whereas
current US Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations establish a 10-mile
Emergency Planning Zone for evacuations around US nuclear reactors and a
50-miles Ingestion Pathway Zone to monitor and potentially interdict
contaminated food, water, milk and livestock;
Whereas
the April 1986 nuclear accident in
Chernobyl and the March 2011 nuclear accident at Fukushima resulted in
interdiction of contaminated food and livestock hundreds of miles from the
reactor sites and Wales contaminated livestock approximately 1,000 miles away
after the Chernobyl accident;
Whereas
the real –world experience of the Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear accidents
resulted in evacuations of villages 25 miles away from Fukushima and over 100
miles away from Chernobyl, the 10 mile Emergency Planning Zone and 50 mile
Ingestion Pathway zones are inadequate and outdated;
Whereas
the proposed WS Lee nuclear station is directly 60 miles from Asheville, NC and
proposed location on the Broad River in Gaffney, SC with headwaters above Lake
Lure, Chimney Rock , North Carolina;
Whereas
nuclear power is generally the most water intensive energy technology and 60 %
of the continental US experienced drought conditions this summer (2012 );
the proposed WS LEE nuclear station
would use 47 million gallons of water a day from the Broad River to cool and
operate the plant which already services the Cliffside Coal Plant 16 miles
upstream using 20 million gallons of water per day;
Whereas
a US and European scientific study published this year (2012) Source: “Nuclear,
Coal Power Face Climate Change Risk: Study” by David Fogarty, revealed the
likelihood of extreme drops in power generation at nuclear plants resulting in either
complete or almost-total shutdowns are projected to triple and that most
significant US impacts will be at power plants inland along major rivers in the
Southeast;
Whereas
the AP1000 Westinghouse reactor proposed for the WS LEE nuclear plant is under
a court challenge for safety issues and design flaws exacerbating concerns for
potential accidents;
Whereas
the federal Price Anderson Act leaves the financial responsibility of a nuclear
accident to the affected citizens and municipalities and whereas Asheville
could experience threats to agriculture, decrease in tourism, radiation
exposure leading to health consequences, environmental degradation, and an
influx of evacuees from towns closer to the reactor site.
Whereas
the citizens of Asheville deserve the greatest possible protection from nuclear
power accidents and the greatest possible preparation to mitigate the effects
of nuclear accidents;
Whereas
current NRC emergency planning regulations are inadequate to provide a
sufficient level of protection for the citizens of Asheville;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE CITY OF ASHEVILLE
Supports the expansion of current Emergency Planning Zones
from 10 to 25 miles around U.S.
Nuclear
sites;
Supports the creation of a new Emergency Response Zone of 25
to 50 miles around US nuclear reactor sites that would require nuclear power
utilities to identify evacuation routes and provide this information to the
public within this zone;
Supports the expansion of the Ingestion Pathway Zone from 50
miles to 100 miles around US nuclear reactors sites;
Supports emergency evacuation exercises that practice
response to situations involving regionally-appropriate initiating or
concurrent natural disasters;
Supports the petition for Rulemaking submitted by 38
organizations across the United States on February 15, 2012, since endorsed by
more than 2700 organizations and individuals, and docketed by the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission as PRM-50-104. In
addition, the City of Asheville will inform the Secretary of the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission and the appointed Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners of its support
for PRM-50-104.
SAFE
Carolinas
Asheville,
NC
Contact: Laura Sorensen lsredoak@gmail.com