ML20237L535
| ML20237L535 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Shoreham File:Long Island Lighting Company icon.png |
| Issue date: | 04/27/1987 |
| From: | AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| To: | |
| References | |
| OL-5-A-007, OL-5-A-7, NUDOCS 8708280144 | |
| Download: ML20237L535 (30) | |
Text
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Focus Group #3 - 2/7/87
'87 AUG 20 P3 :45
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bi:v s ing to do is ask you to assume that you are home on a weekday M - What we are o
morning at 7 a.c.
That you wake up, turn the radio on, and then you are going to hear this message.
EBS Message played.
M What did this message say?
S It says nothing.
No release of radioactivity in the future but hold onto your s
socks, but they don't know what is going to happen next.
S They say not to worry about your kids.
I think the instructions about early dismissal are conf using. At 7 a.m. in the morning, the kids haven't gone to school yet.
Why bring up early dismissal.
S What if you are not lisr.ening to your radio?
M Sirens will go of f in the 10 mile zone.
Sirens first, and then presumably these messages would be broadcast.
S How are they going to notify the parents who are not prepared to receive their children?
S If anything, the kids will leave la:er.
S Even if they said there was nothing dangerous happening now, if they were dismissing schools in the event of something getting worse, 1 cannot see how anyone would not pa nic.
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f S The speaker Tentioned that it was an alert condition, but they didn't describe I
or explain what that actually meant.
What shculd we do?
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M How clear do you think this message was?
S Ve ry vague.
Ve ry little info rma tion.
They just seemed to imply there is nothing wrong, don't wo r ry.
l M Row would you feel though if you heard it?
S I would have to make a decision.
They are supposed to be prof essionals and they are supposed to arrive at a conclusion but f r om what the message says there is no conclusion.
There is actually more confusion than clarity.
S Several weeks ago my daughter heard a siren go of f near her house; she called LILCO ar.d they couldn' t give her any inf o rmati >n at all.
So based on her expe rience, I don't see any point in believing LILCO.
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S None of us trust' LILCO.
The message itself wasn't that bad but none of us believe what they are telling us over there.
S Had the reactor been shut down?
S Eu t a lot of us are not that aware of the process that goes on.
We just read a bout Russia.
A lot of us are not physicists.
S What are the letters for the people who work for the emergency evacuation for LILC07 i
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3 M LIRO.
S A lot of the people are prepaid.
They say I have the money in the bank when it comes to a catastrophe, forget it.
I have heard that.
I have heard f rom people who constructed that thing, f rom other states, they would give me stories that would curl your hair.
And this is going back 6 cr 7 years ago.
At that time, I had no idea.
S I would like to hear a few of the stories.
S One person told me who told me he has his own beer cans in the cement of the nuclear reactor.
S To get back to the issue, to bring children home early froe school I don't really understand how this fits in with an alert and other people who night need help in an alert, there must be other issues that need to be addressed.
That is only one dimension, we are talking about eve ryone.
People in the hospitals, there should be other steps than letting children out of school.
S If you don't get them home first, you will have 5,000 people on the road two hours later when the second alert comes alcag.
So by this way, part of this problem is solved.
S That message was ve ry low-keyed. At 6 a.m. in the morning, I don't think 1 would have my radio an.
S You would hear the sirens though.
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No.
I didn't hear the sirens another time when they went off.
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$ Bu t the main point is nobody at LILCO could give her any reassuring information
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except to say that the thing didn't blow up.
Why the siren went of f, what they were going to do about it was lef t unsaid. There is nothing reassuring.
S Assuming it is a definite warning, the school issue is totally extraneous.
But I feel reluctant to gat in my car and go anyplace without knowing what is going 1
on because you just don't get anyplace on the Long Island Expressway under the best of circumstances at 7:30 in the morning. And with a few thousand extra
)
people, I think I would feel safer in my house than sitting in the highway.
)
S The message raised more questions.
It would be totally disturbing to the public to have thet sparse information and just be wondering what was next.
S I think my point is that I wouldn't hear the message in the first place at that time of the morning but if I did hear it, I wouldn't send my child to school.
I would keep him home.
M How much danger do you think you would be in.at that time tram any kind of accident?
S It depends on if you really were concerned, or if you thought Orson Welles' grandson was trying to do a repeat.
M No, this is a real message.
S Just like in 1934.
If I came to the conclusion that there was something around the block that was, going to eradicate me, I am going to go.
And I would probably wind up in congestion with everyone else. Where do you go?
. S The message seems to me to say that the responsibill ty of activing at a decision was lef t to us rather than them giving us enough information that we could make a reasonable estimate of what we should do.
M Well, what did they tell people to do?
S Read their brochures.
S I can just see people tearing their houses apart trying to find their brochures rather than listening to the message.
How manf people would know exactly where i
everything is.
S I would say that the message is not firm enough, it doesn't reassure anybody.
They left it to you to go and get a reference book and decide what course of action you wanted to take.
And so, if you did something wrong out of the reference book that it was your fault.
You read it wrong.
I think it should have been more definitive, stronger, more explanatory and more restrictive in what it tells you what to do.
Give you a course of action to follow which is a safe one.
M What would you have felt If the message had said very explicitly don't do anything, nothing is wrong at this plant right now.
Stay tuned because something may happen but nothing is wrong now.
S I would assume that our governmental regulators would have somebody at the plant and if such a statement were made, they would give more info rmation.
S In People magazine this month, they had a poll of who are the paople you most dis t ru s t.
At the bottom of the thing are the lawmakers who are the people who
~
. do these things.
And I think they had some clown on the top and you worked your way down.
5 I am not talking about a lawmsker, I am talking about a man who is a technician who knows the bac': ground and his asa is on the line with the rest of us.
I am saying have somebody who is authorized by the government to assess the s i tua tio n.
S The oni,v way that anybody has about getting information as to what is happening at the plant is f rom the LILCO operators.
LILCO is the source of the information f rom those instruments.
S I e uld like to know what provisions if any they have for shutins--people who cannot get arcund--are they prepared to get them out or give them a ride?
M Woul d you be worried about that now if you heard enis message?
i S Yes, I might be.
S If I heard that specific message, I would leave because of Three Mile Island, Love Canal, things that have happened in the last ten years I would go and stay with my relatives who are 20 miles away from Sho reham.
It could change in 15 minutes and that migh t be 15 minutes tou late.
1 S I would get my kid out of school.
j M How much would you people trust LILCO and LILCO representatives to tell you the t ruth about what was heppening at Shoreham in case of some sort of incident?
. S None at all.
S They have their own livelihood.
You don't even know if it is a tape re co rdi ng.
M Uhat if you turned on the television and they started to interview nuclear angineers f rom LILCO and they said not to worry about it we have the whole thing under control there is no need to panic.
S Anchor people f rom the main channels of the city, putting their life on the line, speaking to the engineers with the backdrop of the nuclear plant, it kind of puts fou ill at ease.
M Wh a t if they are also interviewing some other scientists who are telling you l
a bout the possible dangers of this kind of accident?
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S Good luck.
S In actuality, is LILCO required to notify the proper governmental agency?
S Yes.
S At Three Mi'.e Island, there was a maj or lapat of time before they notified a nyb ody.
They tried to get it under control firs'..
S Assuming the message told me to evacuate, I wouldn't know where I would want to go.
M This is your first message. You have heard this message and every 15 ainutes they repeat it.
Now you will hear ancther message.
. M What did this message say about the safety system at the nuclear power plant?
I S I don't think they are sure about it at all.
I don't think there is any safety once it starts leaking out.
It is in your water. Even if you are ten and a half miles away you cannot control it.
M Did anybody hear anything that the message said about the safety system?
S No.
S They said what they did exactly the first time with the exception of the milk-producing animals.
And then they said there was a minor leakage, And r. hey then contradicted it, don't worry about it.
S At the beginning of the message, didn't it say there had been no release and then they said there had been a minor leak.
Contradicts ry.
They still want people to be calm.
5 More clear than the first one.
Oc t the hell out of there.
S More conf using.
Contradictory.
S Even after the first message, I would have found my phone book and looked up that map.
I think' probably everybody would.
S This is the first I have known about it.
S The maps are made up into zones.
M Could you tell f rom what they said in the message whether you are in or out of the zone?
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S Yeah.
5 I am in it.
M What would you do if fou heard this message?
S It is very contradictory.
First it said there was no leak and later on it said the re was.
First of all, there is no place to run on Long Island.
I would stay h ome.
)
S I would make sure that I had gasoline in my gas tank.
S I would make sure that I had same canned food in my house.
Bu t I actually live outside the zone.
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1 M So what would you do if you heard this message?
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S Make sure my gas tank was f ull.
Close all the windows.
M How much danger would you feel you were in af ter you heard this second message?
S At that time, none at all.
I am west and there could be a great dif f e rence between living by Shoreham or west of Shoreham, i
S
- am ve ry much in the zone, I am only 5 miles away f rom Shoreham.
And my feeling is that I would start checking everything out, my car, make sure it is run ning. My granddaughter lives only 4 miles away and I would go over there and make sure they are all right.
I would not be satisfied with what they told me.
S I guess I would do the same t' ing, I would worry about s7 grandchildren who are h
in Rocky Point.
That would be my primary concern.
I wouldn't want to try to
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. leave the area because even on ordinary days the traf fic is horrendous.
I am 4 miles from the plant, my daughter maybe 6, and I would be concerned about her and the children.
My son would have lef t for work already.
As I say, there is no place to go to and there were no instructions as to what to do.
I never received a brochure.
S Well at 9:19 in the morning, I would be at work, I would immediately leave the j ob and come home with my f amily.
I work in Farmingdale.
l M What if you couldn't get back in because all six lanes of the LIE were going west?
S I would try to find some way.
If not, try to find some place to stay locally.
S Do you have the only car?
S No.
Bu t according to the message, I didn't f eel it wa s a f ull emergency, I was just trying to get home and listen to further instructions.
S So wou'_c eve rybody else.
S Does your wife drive?
l S I would tell my wife to stay put based on that announ ceme nt.
The phone lines would be corsgested.
S I would have plans to meet my husband where he works but I would have already left during the first message.
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. S We only live a mile and a half so I think at that point we would already be in d a nge r.
So I would probably go east.
M Do you think you could get away from it by going east?
S Not necessarily but I would just try to get further away.
S With the first me s sag e, whoever who was in the house with me, I would have lef t.
I Because I am very nervous about those kinds of things.
I would have been on the road and anybcdy I could have picked up on the route if it was possible, I would have. Ge t out of the range of the thing and if I could go further than 20 miles, I would just keep on going. Make sure I was definitely out of range.
If God forbid, if something did happen, I would be away.
S Rave they tested this 10 niles, how do they know that it is not going to go over 10 miles? We don't know that and bare we are sitting within 12 miles, and not 1
knowing, so I think I would cake of f.
I just came to that conclusion today incidentally, because I was pro end con. Now I an against it.
S I would get my wife, get in the car and go east.
Because there is no way you c ould go te s t because at that time of the morning they would be going to work.
M Some peop' e have suggested that all lanes on all major roads, whether they are east o r we s t, would all be going west.
Like all six lanes on the Long Island Expressway would all be heading west.
S That is impossible.
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. S I am not a commuter right now but I do travel the Expressway quite of ten in the morning.
But from what I see of the nightmare of trying to handle three lanes, it is totally impossible to have them all going west.
S I think that the six lanes would be a good idea but I think there would be so many accidents, that it would be closed down.
S Right now, the way I f eel about it, if there is a possibility of it opening, my husband and I would try to move of f the Island before that ever happens.
I would panic and try to get off.
S Hy alarm clock goes off at 6 a.m. so I would hear that firs t announceme nt.
Bty husband and I wouldn't have to discuss it, we would just pack everything, throw the three kids and dog in the car and go.
We would go to Vermont.
S Wha t about the money you have in the bank?
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S We don't have any.
S I can tell f ecm the message that we live just beyond the 10 mile limit.
My children and grandchildren live within 3 miles so I would be on the way out there to get them.
i S
I am still not sure f rom the message if I am within 10 miles.
It says Port Jef ferson, Riverhsad all the way to Sunrise and I sincerely doubt that everything in between is within the 10 miles.
So probably even though I am in that box at 8:15 I would be at work and outside the 10 mile limit.
I think if I we re home at that point, I would probably wait and see.
. S I would check the basement.
And one thing I would be really interested in is the weather pattera.
That would be my first thought.
Depe nding on how the wind wa s blowing, I wouldn' t be on the road yet.
S I am about 10 miles from it but I would not want my child in school next door to it.
I would prevent him f rom going to school or I would go there and get him after the first message.
Then I would wait at home for a while, And if the messages got wo rs e, then I would try to leave.
The second one, I still don't know if I would leave.
S The message doesn't say whether they are taking the kids home or are they taking them beyond the 10 mile limit.
S I am withir.10 niles, village of Port Jef f by the hospital, I am a skeptic co 1 left after the first message.
S On the first message, they also say at the end if anything new comes up every 13 minutes we wil? advise you.
And all of a sudden mescage #2 comes up and it gets a lot stronger than it was for message fl.
Now there is a little bit of radioactivity, hide your cow.
Now I,would start saying, man, what could #3 be.
Now if I am not convinced by then, I would get away.
If there is a big fire and it is spreading, I would get away, I wouldn' t sit there and say I have a little hose and I am going to water it down.
I am going to get away f rom it.
The hell with eve rything, my bankbook, my house.
S The more I think about it, I may wo rry about Shoreham more than other nuclear plants because I knew some of the steamfitters who worked there because of the stories they told me.
I wculd leave af ter the first message.
. G I think the steamfitters have three shif ts.
They found out they were not making progress that they should have.
So they laid of f the midnight shif t.
The next week productivity increased, it went up by 18%; two shif ts over three shif ts.
So that goes to show you what is going on out there.
M Le t 's assume that it is now f urther along in the morning, and either in your car or in your home you hear this next message.
Play EBSf3 M What did the message say about the safety system at the plant?
S It might be on the verge of failing.
S That is what I read into it.
Wh a t they said was there is a possibility of a f ailure occurring and now I am worried.
S I thought it sounded uore low key than number 2.
S I would like to know what the potency of the release is.
Do n' t they have a certain number that is a small amount or a big amount.
Or what?
S What did they say about what they were trying to do to assess that.
S Field teams.
That must mean they are out there with geiger counters trying to figure out how much leak has occurred.
S They make mention of low fission.
Bu t they didn't go into detail.
Plus, they changed the word from sinor to small release.
That is a very significant
t
. change. They said it was released into the air, but nothing about which way it was blowing and how fast it was blowing.
S I don't think. they know and that is why they have field teams out.
S My translation of that tape is hey guys maybe we don't know what we are doing.
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S The tape said there was a possibility of a major safety system malfunction so 1 think that they are not going to tell us when that happens.
S You may see when it happe ns.
S Did you ever heat a thing called rumor propaganda? How one thing can go to l
l something else? From sonething very small to something very, very major.
They l
are trying to play that down because now this rumor propaganda can be happening very easily.
S It is still very unrealistic because what they are telling you to do is one get your animals inside and two read your manual.
That is not very comf orting.
S I just didn't feel that it was clear; I don't feel enat they know what they are doing because they would know if it was released or there is a good chance that it was released. Here they are saying it was released. The important thing they stress is that there has been a release; what does it matter at this point whether it is a littic or a lot.
l l
In many ways, I think that message is ridulous.
One thing about the animals.
S Not too many people here are dairy f armers. Where is the government in all
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. this.
I would not rely on just that inf o rmation.
I think the local government would be involved. That one message would not be my only source.
You would think the Governor would get on and make a speech.
S If something goes, he would probably get on and i.ay something.
l M The Governor and the County are refusing to participate in the planning because they believe it is impossible to evacuate.
Both the Governor and the County Executive are ref using to take part in this exercise.
This is why they are not
- me ncioned.
S From the time of the third message. I would think that if they are worrying a bout major safety system malfunctioning, they should have started evacuation processes and notified people and they didn't say they are.
M In this message, did they tell anybody to evacuate?
S No.
M Did they tell people outside of the 10 mile zone that they were safe and that l
they didn't have to do anything?
l S Just listen to the radio.
In message three the order to put animals under cover l
1 was stronger.
S I think that is ridulous because no one uses that as a source of nutrition.
Everybody goes to the Dairy Barn.
S I think they should get a clairvoyant to solve the whole thing.
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. M One of the problems is that if this actually happened there would be more than one source of inf o rmation.
If-you are getting LILCO's inf o rmation in this message, how much would you believe LILCO as opposed to other sources.
S It depends on what the source was.
M You know what the news media is like, they interview this guy and this guy and l
l so on.
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S But suppose you see the newscaster talking to you on the TV with a radiation s ui t on?
S Well, they are the only people who would be at the plant.
LILCO has mos t of the j
info rma tion.
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M Do you believe them?
S No.
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1 S I have coae to the conclusion that everybody here is anti-LILCO.
S I would like to make a museum out of the plant.
I S
Build a big casino out there.
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S The fact that most people are afraid of nuclear energy because they don't know l
l a bout it and instead of the politicians warning us about the evacuation, they l
i don't do that.
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M The politicians believe like most people in this room that it would be 1
1 impossible to evacuate.
3
. S How long do you get to evacuate.
Is it going to be 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> before anything happens of a nature that is really catatrosphic?
S You certainly ought to be able to evacuate the Island in 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br />.
i S Maybe ten years age I was coming home f rom work and I was going east.
I lived in Stony Brook at the time and there was a collision on the parkway.
And chaos, we sat there, i ; wa s ho t, one fellow was trying to cut right across the parkway, I
through the trees to get from going eastbound to the westbound side. We stayed l
f o r two ours.
So let's not talk about evacuation. Finally, they landed two helicopters to take the injured people out of the cars and then af ter they got t hem out of the cars, another half an hour a trickle started.
I never forgot that.
I said Mor.her of God if we ever have to get of f this Island in a hurry, how in God's name do vou do it? And that was on the Northern State Parkway.
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S If it is impossible to evacuate, why in the world doesn't one of them have the nerve to say let's close the place down.
l S Most of them have said that.
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S But why doesn't somebody do something about it.
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S Twenty years ago, it was a great idea.
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S It seems as if LILCO isa's losing any money, it is the suckers on Long Island 1
problem.
S I just wanted to add that the local politician cannot do anything because the licensing of it is from the national government not f rom the local government.
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! And as f ar as the time element, nobody knows how long it actually takes because it could be a complete breakdown in minutes.
i S I think that when we talk about people opposed to Shorehsm they fit into two There is a certain sort of people who oppose any form of categories not one.
nuclear energy because they feel it is inherently dangerous.
Then there are many people who feel that safe nuclear energy is a possibility but that LILCO itself cannot be trusted.
I would put myself into the category of someone who is not opposed to nuclear energy but I am very much opposed to L1LCO.
M It is now a little later in the morning and we are going to hear another message.
Play EBS #$
M Assume you are in one of those zones.
S They said there are four dif ferent classifications.
Is that the most severe, or i
the next to most severe.
M I don' t know.
S You have to do this one first because hopef ully the people nearby get out bef o re the people f urther away.
M What did this message tell people to do?
S It told me to go into the barn with the animals.
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. S To follow specific emergency routes and go to reception centers.
S It cold people who were in certain zones to evacuate but of course none of us know how to evacuate.
S It said that there tre particular routes.
M
'a'h a t do you think they mean by a trained traffic guide?
1 S Suffolk County Police.
S LILCO repairman.
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M If you we re out in the street, and a LILCO person told you not to go down the road what. would you do?
S Run him over.
S I would obey him.
S The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is currently considering the possibility of opening the plant over the objections of the local authorities.
If that plant is opened, the local authorities have got to cooperate in an evacuation.
So by the time this happens, there should be policing.
M What would you do now?
S I would leave.
M And you would not have left before?
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. S No.
S I am still outside of the zone and I am still sitting with my windows closed.
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S I live inside the area and I f rankly do not believe that all these volunteers are going to tell you where to go and how to get there.
I do not believe it.
LILCO employees who are f amily men with wives and children at home, they will go home to take care of their own.
I would go off on my own.
S I guess I would feel the same way but at the same time I do know a person who is a member of that LILCO group and he told me that they hadn't had any training at all so if push comes to shove, he is going to worry about his wife.
Because he has had no training.
It is not organized.
I would just leave and do the best I Can.
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S I would also be forced to leave, I live within the zone.
I would try tu have an orderly exodus of f the Island.
5 I would have kept my son home, gone to the gas station gassed up, even bringing extra gaa.
I would have lef t immediately.
S I would have heeded the first wa rning. Whoever was still around, I would try to get with a iew neighbors and store up some provisions.
It doesn't take a second grade education to know you are not going to get out.
i S
I would go out on the first call.
S I am within the 3 mile limit, I would have lef t at the first alert by car or by boat.
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. S I would have too.
I wouldn't think about only going to a shelter.
S I would try to get to Conne:ticut.
S I think anyone when they heard the word evacuate wouldn't hear anything else.
Turn the radio of f and go.
S I think at the point where I heard the 3rd message 1 would have gone to Smithtown or Huntington.
S I probably would have left by the third message.
I would have lef t immediately.
S I would have lef t with the child but I think that people living closer, should have left earlier.
S I am within the limit, I lef t sf ter the first message.
S What about the gas stations, do you know how many people are going to pile up.
You think the gas lines of the 70s was bad.
S When people say that I live 12 miles away and I am going to wait until the people closer get out, I don't think so.
M Do you think there will be any violence on the roads?
S Sure.
S There would be looting, ripping of f.
They would have a field day.
S I am considering if they put the plant on full power, I don't think I am going to let my son go to school next door.
He is pre-school and I don't have to send him the re.
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1 S Once this catastrophe, your beloved beautif ul Long Island can never come back.
I pe rsonally love Long Island. And I want to protect it and especially f rom Shorehan.
If I have the possibility to do what I can to get that thing not to run, I will do it.
Something has to go wrong.
Then listen to all the pros.
M Do you think it is possible to have an accident at Shoreham similar to the one in the Soviet Union?
S Yes.
S I would consider that Chernobyl was built a long time befo re Shoreham.
I would hope that they have prevented that type of things.
S I think it should be pointed out that wo rlawid e, the generation of nuclear power has been very unsuccessf ul.
France has had breakdowns, England has, Ge rmany has, now we are hearing about Russia so we assume that there is no really saf e i
way of generating nuclear power at least with the present technology.
Some thing always goes wrong.
The only reason we heard about Russia was that they couldn't hide this under the table. Who knows what happened before that.
S My f ather is a physicist at Brookhaven National Lab and I probably wouldn't even call him.
He f eels the nuclear power is safe.
S I think Chernobyl was a classic example of misinformation.
They not only didn' t tell the western world, they didn't tell their own.
S The Chernobyl plant was a dif f erent kind of plant and they had no containment so I don't feel the same thing coul,d happen here.
Less likely.
l S One of the perils that we f ace is that there seems to be in this country a refusal to realize that people have responsible jobs.
Trains meeting head on. '
Yesterday, I heard of the man who ran through three red lights.
These instances have been magnified.
It seams that part of our problem is the f ailura of people to accept their responsibilities.
Bu t Russia controls everything and they still had a maj or disaster.
S First of all, you have brought up a good point.
We are not in the same class, as f ar as the quality of material.
In Russia, you have no liberty to deviate f rom any accepted practice like you have here.
S Chernobyl was actually caused because they deviated f rom accepted procedures.
S I think that nuclear accidents are embarrassments.
We should come right ou and discuss our options, let's forget this embarrassment nonsense.
S I think Chernobyl taught people a lesson. You would think that people would open up their eyes around the world.
M 1 want to play one more message.
The next one tells everybody to evacuate f rom the area within the 10 mile zone.
S They all sound alike.
The wording is repetitious.
M If you heard this message how much danger do you think you would be in?
S A lot of danget.
Because they have substituted f rom minor to small to major.
The other messages were repetitive.
They do tell you to evacuate even beyond the 10 mile limit, the implication that it is a very serious leakage.
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. S They constantly refer to these guides that are supposed to help you.
Based on the survey they made, there are not going to be a lot of guides around because they had that in Newsday and attitude was particularly school bus drivers, me first and the hell with the next guy.
I think they are put ting entirely too i
much emphasis on it.
S 1 con't think anyone would be looking for a guide, they would be on their way out.
They would think of their own safety and that of their family.
t M LILCO says that in case there was an actual emergency like the one described in these messages that people would listen to what they we,re told in these messages, that they would not leave and that they would obey instructions.
What do you think?
l S Their credibility is not that great.
i S Do they believe we are going to sit there and listen to their messages.
How could they be more reassuring.
I would hate to see the messages get any higher.
l keyed than that.
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5 Once they hear something going on at the powe r plant, they are going to panic.
M They say that the way that' people behave in natural disasters, e.g., hurrican' s, e
floods and tornados and what you find when you ask people to evacuate you find less people will evacuate.
S This is dif f erent '. hough.
Those accidents occur time af ter time.
They might have weathered out one of those disasters in the past but no one goes through a nuclear disaster.
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S With nuclear power,,we are dealing with an entity that we don' t blow that much I
y a bou t. As far as the damages fret radiation, and so on.
My cousin vnen she was little was exposed to radiatign and twenty years later sh6 had car $er of the t hyr oid.
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S Speaking of thyroid, for the first time of. my lif e I a4 plad,that I have ap underactive one because the peop19 wito have an hvohattive one already have all
,4 that radioactivity in their system.
M Do you think that if there actually were an accident lixe this, and LI!40 cold people to stay who l red beyond 10 miles that a large portion of those peoplt wouldn't listen.
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i S I wouldn't.
S That is when the real -aass hysteria starts.
People over 10 miles get nervous too.
I S I think mos t of Suf folk would try to go into Nassau.
And most of Nassau would go into Manhattan.
S Getting back to Chernobyl, what good is evacuation when this :stuf f has gone to countries thousand of miles away. Where can you hide?
S That is why they should cicae them all down.
S The degree of harm done to a person in Finland, they have maybe 1 in 50,000 chances of developing cancer along the line opposed to a person 20 miles away having a 1 in 50 chance.
3 -
S Even in Poland, they had to destroy their crops.
What de the people eat?
S Eow many people actually died f rom the Chernobyl incident within the first month?
S 50.
S That is a lot of people dying immediately.
It could be ten times that amount ove r the long range ef fee.rs.
Do you think that would be a f air estimate?
S No way of knowing.
11 I am going to play one more message.
Essentially it tells everyone to s
evacuate in the 10 mile zone.
People outside of the zone are told they are not i n any dange r.
Play EBS Message S - Is that a LILCO sp>kesman on the tape?
M No.
LILCO vrote the tape, but a student is reading the message.
S I would love to believe that the plant is sound.
But I am afraid that I don't believe that.
S That is for the birds.
j M If you heard this message, how much danger do you think you and your f amily would be in?
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S A lot.
A lot of danger because they have substituted the words from minor to small amount to maj or.
The other messages were repetitive for what we heard bef o re.
They do tell you now to evacuate even beyond the 10 mile limit; the implication is that it is a very serious leakage.
S Based on the survey they made, there are not going to be a lot of guys around.
They had that in Newsday and the attitude was me first and the hell with the n ext guy.
Especially bus drivers.
S At that point, people would be too tense to look for a guide.
They are going to think what is the safety of the family.
Or the guy next door.
M LILCO says that in the case of an actual emergency, that people would listen to what they were told in these messages.
That they would not leave.
S Their credibility s not that great.
i S What is the alternative? How else are they going to write their messages to make us sit there.
I would hate to see the messages get any lower keyed than they are now.
S A great percentage of Long Islanders do not trust LILCO.
Once they near something is going on at the Shoreham plant, they will not listen any further.
S LILCO has no right to judge people's behavior.
S What they say is you look at how people behave in natural disasters.
If you ask people to evauate, less people will evacuate.
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. S This is different.
4 S I would not listen to any messages f rom LILCO.
I would estimate the situation to be ten times worse than what they were saying.
M What would happen if say Dan Rather was out here?
He was interviewing some scientists f rom Brookhaven National Laboracoty? And they were saying there is no reason to panic. Minor accident. We are trying to get this under contrcl.
Just stay inside your house and close all your windows.
S Well, if they we re standing out in the open, bareheaded talking to Dan Rather, I would believe them.
S The politicians also are at fault; they do not inform us of what is happening.
They are after the vote only.
M Does anybody else have any comments.
S Yeah, IT WILL NOT WORK.
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