ML12195A266

Comment (162) Karen Fuller, on Behalf Tompkins County Legislature, on PRM-50-104 Regarding Emergency Planning Zone

ML12195A266
Person / Time
Site:	Calvert Cliffs, Browns Ferry, Nine Mile Point, Three Mile Island, Surry, Fort Calhoun, FitzPatrick
Issue date:	07/11/2012
From:	Fuller K Tompkins County, NY
To:	NRC/SECY/RAS
SECY RAS
References
77FR25375 00162, NRC-2012-0046, PRM-50-104
Download: ML12195A266 (3)

Text

Tompkins County Legislature DOC ID: 3515 320 North Tioga Street, Ithaca, NY 14850 PRM-50-104 Department:

Legislature Office www.tompkins-co.org/legislature (77FR25375)

Category:

Legislation or Funding -State and Federal Functional Category:

Environmental, Legislation/Regulations ADOPTED (D Resolution No. 2012-129 Resolution in Support of Expanding Emergency Planning Zones Around Nuclear Power Plants WHEREAS, of the 104 nuclear power plants currently operating in the United States, 23 of them are the same design as the Fukushima-style General Electric Mark I boiling water reactor, and two of those are in central New York State (FitzPatrick and Nine Mile Point 1, both in Oswego), and WHEREAS, after the 1979 Three Mile island accident the nation's nuclear regulators adopted community emergency-planning requirements for both a plume exposure pathway (10-mile radius evacuation planning) and an ingestion pathway (25-mile-radius monitoring and possible interdiction of foods), with both numbers based on models rather than experience, and WHEREAS, the April 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident resulted in interdiction of contaminated food and livestock hundreds of miles away (and as far away as contaminated livestock in Wales, 1000 miles from Chernobyl), and WHEREAS, the March 2011 nuclear accident at Fukushima resulted in a mandatory evacuation within a 12-mile radius around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear site, a recommended evacuation within an 18-mile radius, and actual evacuation of. villages 25 miles to the northwest, as well as numerous documented instances of contaminated food and livestock more than 100 miles away, and the U.S.government warned U.S. citizens to stay at least 50 miles away, and WHEREAS, in response to the March 2011 Fukushima disaster the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) established a Task Force to determine lessons learned and to review NRC regulations to see if any additional measures are warranted, and WHEREAS, the NRC Task Force issued its report on July 11, 2011, concluding there is no imminent risk but that enhanced to safety and emergency preparedness are warranted, issued a dozen proposed regulations, and continues to make additions and recommendations, and WHEREAS, in seeming contradiction to this, the NRC published in a December 2011 Federal Register changes to community emergency planning that had been in the works for several years and that took effect December 23 and that require fewer exercises for major accidents and recommend that fewer people be evacuated right away; these changes clearly seem to clash with the lessons learned from Fukushima, and WHEREAS, on February 12, 2012, in response to these changed emergency preparedness regulations, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) and 37 co-petitioners filed a Petition*for Rulemaking with the NRC to expand emergency planning and evacuation zones and strengthen emergency regulations, and WHEREAS, tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods during 2011 caused loss of offsite power and other damage to several nuclear reactor sites across the United States, including Browns Ferry in Alabama, Surry in Virginia, Calvert Cliffs in Maryland, and Fort Calhoun in Nebraska, demonstrating that natural disasters can challenge nuclear safety systems, and current NRC regulations do not require emergency exercises to include scenarios with regionally appropriate initiating or concurrent natural disasters, and DOCKETED USNRC July 11, 2012 (4:30 pm)OFFICE OF SECRETARY RULEMAKINGS AND ADJUDICATIONS STAFF Tompkins County Legislature Meeting of July 3, 2012 Resolution No. 2012-129 Resolution in Support of Expanding Emergency Planning Zones Around Nuclear Power Plants WHEREAS, most nuclear reactors were licensed with an expected life of 40 years and, when sited 40 years ago, were in low-population areas, but today hundreds of millions of Americans live within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant, and WHEREAS, current NRC emergency planning regulations are inadequate to sufficiently protect residents of Tompkins County, now therefore be it RESOLVED, That the Tompkins County Legislature is in favor of the U.S. NRC expanding emergency planning zones and improving its regulations to reflect updated radiation science and the real-world lessons learned from Fukushima and elsewhere, as reflected in the NIRS Petition for Rulemaking.

SEQR ACTION: TYPE 11-20 RESULT: MOVER: SECONDER: AYES: EXCUSED: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]

Dooley Kiefer, Member Kathy Luz Herrera, Member Burbank, Chock, Dennis, Luz Herrera, Kiefer, Lane, Mackesey, McBean-Clairborne, McKenna, Proto, Pryor, Robertson, Robison, Shinagawa Peter Stein STATE OF NEW YORK )) ss: COUNTY OF TOMPKINS)I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct transcript of a resolution adopted by the Tompkins County Legislature on July 3, 2012.9 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the said Legislature at Ithaca, New York, on July 11, 2012.A-V£ -Clerk Tompkins County Legislature Page 2 Rulemaking Comments From: Sent: To:

Subject:

Attachments:

Karen Fuller [kfuller@tompkins-co.org]

Wednesday, July 11, 2012 1:44 PM Rulemaking Comments Comment regarding Docket ID NRC-2012-0046 R129-12.doc Please see the attached resolution passed by the Tompkins County Legislature.

Karen Fuller Deputy Clerk Tompkins County Legislature Inclusion through Diversity 1