ML20100B299
| ML20100B299 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Limerick  |
| Issue date: | 11/19/1984 |
| From: | Visser B AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| To: | Hoyt H Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel |
| References | |
| CON-#484-443 OL, NUDOCS 8412040282 | |
| Download: ML20100B299 (3) | |
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137 Forge Hill Lane _
Phoenirville, Pa. 19460.
CFF t 'C;/, 0.1 November 19,1984 =
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_.3., y SERVED DEC 51984 Helen Hoyt, Chairperson,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Cocmission (#50-352)
- iashington, D.C. 20555 Dear Judge lloyt I am sending you the testimony I would have given at the hearings which were held in lottstown, Ia. on November 15th and 16th on the evacuation plans in the event of a nuclear accident at the Li=erick Powei Flant.
In the Report to the Congress by the Comptroller General, August 1,1984 ~
entitled "Further Actions Needed to Improve Emergency Freparedness around -
Nuclear F4wer Ilants" it statcs "The NRC is reluctant to prevent plants from operating due to inadequate offsite preparedness because it does not want to penalize utilities for factors beyond their control". ( iii)
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I submit for your consideration that the Limerick Nuclear Tower Plaub.
does not operate in isolation. It is not an island.
It will play.a ;
a-significant part in all of the cocn: unities that surround it.
If it goes onl_.
line-it will intrude into all of our lives; economically, emotionally and g physically.
The NRC is charged with 1>rotectingt)ehealthandsafetyoftho[dwho live in this area.
It cannot, in cy opinion, look only at the technical efficiency of the plant and the purported safety of its physical stesacture.'
The plant impinges on the lives of the community in which it is located.
People who live here must gra};ple with factors that would not otherwise affect their lives, the lives of their children, their land, and their anicials.
=.... ;e One of the factors 'that is being considered by the NRC is the adequacy of the evacuaticn 3 1ans in the event of an accident.
I have been a citizen voluntoer in Schuylkill Township reading the various " drafts' of the pland prel_ared primarily by Energy Consultants. I am concerned about' many aspects of the plans and I will attempt to identify some of these.
F*rst and foremost is the lack of any overall coorcination of the plans. ~ ~
The primary coordinating body is Energy Consultants who can scarcely be
- -- N described as objective. Some' G3 different entities, schools, parochial schools, day care centers, hosi'itals, communitics such as Car.p Hill, are all 8412040D 2 841119' PDR ADOOK 05000352
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groping and struggling to develop plans.. There is much~ duplication of effort,-
and considerable confusion., The day to day problems of the municipalities preclude adequate l time and attention to the difficulties of eva'cuation.
Very.little information has been communicated to township residWnts.
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- ' The majority of people 'in' my neighborho' od 'know n'othing' abouti.th~em~, fthink [
the plant is already operating because;of fthe low power' license,'and feel. -
resigned to_ its inevitability. ' Parents in Schuylkill1 Township ~areJuot:. %:
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informed about wha't :is being' planned. for-their. children.~ This -lack-of - w { ;'"
coordination'among federal, state and local. agencies is cite ~d over:and. 11.
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E over again-la the Comptroller General's Report.
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A second aspect of my concern with evacuation is the traffic situation out of Valley Forge Park on Route 23.
The road is one of the widest in the aron, but is still only 2 lanes wide.
On any given corning traffic-through the park is backed up 2-3 miles.
Pa t way through the Park is the end r
of the 10 mile zone. But the road does not suddcnly open up to 4 lane escape routes. The roads wind through the park, to Xing of Prussia, one of the most highly traveled and densely concentrated areas of. executive office buildings and. work places for people all over the Delaware Velley.
The corridor on Route 292 is no better. Hundreds of people coming ~ into the area to work would seriously affect the ability of those leaving the EI2 zone in an attempt to get out.
Imagine for a moment the. compounding i
of the problema during a snow storm. The road throudsthe park is hilly and slippery. Route 29, another evacuation route, leads to the Great Valley j
Corporate Center, another huge cocplex of exec 4tive offices with hundreds of people arriving there to work. Congestion occurs every morning and' even-ing.
The Superintendant of the Phoenixville Area School District, Mr'. Murray, has told me that since there are not enough busses to evacuate all'the j
children, one option is to marhh them on foot 2{ miles to Great Valley.
where they could.bc. sheltered without food till;S:00 p.m..;No one has any guarantee that teachers or voluhteeYs will stay there to take care of children for hours in what would. become overcrowded conditions. You are aware of the Iennsylvania Education Association's position that teachers are' not under obligation to assume this role _.unless it.he.s.been bargained for in e
their contracts. Manyftenchers have' told me privately that-they would not.
stay.
In no aspect of the evacu_ation plans is. adequate attention ~ being given i
to family day care centers, private nursery schools, and to facilities to house the retarded such as Camp Hill.
~ Imagine.for a moment, if you will, the plight o$ the v5 nan who. takes care of several infants or Coddlers' in her home.- Is-she to get all.of
'the infants or tpddlers into her car, all with infant seats'or restraints.
and drive out of the area.
How would she be &ble tp meet their needs for food or clean diapers, let alone drive with them in.her car?
Or consider the l'arent Cooperative Nursery' School.
I taught 2 year olds
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at the ChnrlestownPlayschool, within the EPZ zone.
It is a Parent ' Cooperative i
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school where.the children are brought by parents in car pools...They range in age from 2-5 years. There are no busses and they are not part of the -
system for general pick-up. The route out is over narrow,-rural, country.
"-m-roads and parents wonld have to con.e back into the EFZ zone to' get them. W
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Or another instance:
I taught at a. pre-school for h'andicapped
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children outside. the EFZ zone. However they lived within ~the 10 mile. -
What would 1.appen to them when it was time to go' home? : They.-.
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could not be bussed back to the EPZ zone and no provision-is being made for -
s-them to go to Mass Evacuation Centers or for School personnel to take '
'E care of them where they are. Many have special needs and. diets or wh' eel-chairs and tne like.
Another concern of mine is the Mass Evacuation Centers. For Schuylkill; Township the parking lot at.fest Goshen Shopping center has been designated.
Du es anyone t*_..re know that hundreds of people may be dessending on it who may be contaminated? Who is going to man the center? What building would be used? Where is food / water coming f rom? There are sanitary facilities located? How many are there for how many people?
In my opinion it seems irresponsible to even contemplate.
A 5th concern is pcssible distribution of potassium iodide. 'How'could distribution possibly be monitored or controlled?
How is the general public, school children, to be informed about its use and possible hazards or the conaequences of.not taking it? There appears to be much controversy among professionals about its use.
I My concerns cover these practical aspects of overall coordination of evacuation planning, traffic, evacuation routes, day care centers, nursery schools, mass care centers and distribution of potassium iodide.
However I share the wider concerns stated so eloquently on November 15th by the lady from Camp Hill community about the integrity of the land, the disposal of nuclear vatte, and the protection of the environment for generations to come.
I do not~ believe the evacuation plans are workable, prattical, or able to provide for our health and safety. They do not reflect the informed consent of the populace. The plant has been built in an unfortunate area and should not be licensed.
I urge you to act with tourage and with the concerns of those who live here uppenmost in your minds.
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S inc erely, f.
k 0N Barbara Visser 4
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