ML20054D931

Testimony of Bp Madere Re Radiological Emergency Response Plans.Describes Preparation & Provisions of St John the Baptist Parish Emergency Plan

ML20054D931
Person / Time
Site:	Waterford
Issue date:	04/20/1982
From:	Madere B AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED, LOUISIANA POWER & LIGHT CO.
To:
Shared Package
ML20054D911	List: ML20054D910 ML20054D918 ML20054D925 ML20054D928 ML20054D931 ML20054D934 ML20054D937 ML20054D943 ML20054D947
References
NUDOCS 8204230516
Download: ML20054D931 (16)

Text

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l Q. Will there be adequate provisions for evacuating aged or crippled persons?

A. Yes. A roster of aged and handicapped persons who would need transportation assistance in an evacuation has been compiled through social service agencies and organiza-tions, and will be updated semi-annually. Vans, ambulances, buses and other available transportation resources will be used to evacuate these persons.

Q. Will there be adequate provisions for evacuating institutionalized persons, such as the sick and hospitalized, and imp.risoned persons?

A. Yes, implementing plans for the hospital and nursing home have been updated and improved. Training for the staff has commenced. These persons will be evacuated using vans, ambulances, buses and other available transportation resources, as appropriate. The Sheriff of St. Charles Parish bears the responsibility for imprisoned persons and has made-provision, by agreement, with an adjoining parish to accept the prisoners in the event of a nuclear incident in the area.

Q. Will there be adequate provisions for evacuating transient workers?

A. Yes, they will be regarded in the same category as those residents in the area who need transportation. They will be directed to pick-up points and then transported by bus )

out of the EPZ.

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l C O L :'.EirP o

April 20, 1982

'82 TC' 21 T ' 1 '> l UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Before the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board In the Matter of )

)

LOUISIANA POWER & LIGHT )

COMPANY ) Docket No. 50-382

)

(Waterford Steam Electric )

Station, Unit 3) )

TESTIMONY OF BERTRAM PAUL MADERE ON RADIOLOGICAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLANS Q. Please state your name and address.

A. My name is Bertram Paul Madere. My address is 1413 Main Street, Laplace, La.

Q. Where are you employed and what is your position there?

A. I am employed by the St. John the Baptist Police Jury as Parish Civil Defense Director.

Q. In this capacity, are you responsible for implementing evacuation procedures in your Parish?

A. Yes. As Civil Defense Director, I am responsi-ble for implementing evacuation procedure.s in accordance with l

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local emergency plans and recommending evacuation of part or all of St. John Parish when in my professional opinion circum- <

stances exist which would endanger the health and safety of persons within my jurisdiction.

O. What has been your training and experience in civil defense and emergency preparedness?

A. My training in the area of civil defense has ranged from correspondence courses on civil denfense to military training in the U.S. Navy in atomic, biological and chemical warfare. I have also had classroom training on various civil defense related subjects, including hazardous material handling, nuclear accidents, and emergency planning, both at Staff College in Battle Creek, Michigan and the Federal Emergency Management Agency Institute at Emmitsburg, Maryland.

During my 18 years of service in civil defense, I have comple-ted over 500 hours0.00579 days <br />0.139 hours <br />8.267196e-4 weeks <br />1.9025e-4 months <br /> in classroom training. My experience in civil defense dates back to 1964, when I was appointed Assistant Civil Defense Director in St. John Parish, long before emergency preparedness was a concept familiar to Parish residents. I became Civil Defense Director in 1975. Since 1964, I have been involved continuously with civil defense work. This has included personal involvement in such emergencies as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, toxic chemical releases, bulk plant storage fires, chemical spills, train derailments and radiation accidents involving the loss of i

radioactive material, such as sources used in radiography and medicine. Since becoming Civil Defense Director, I have responded to over 175 incidents or emergencies, which have occurred at an estimated rate of about 18 per year. My jurisdiction has gone through four federal disaster declara-tions since I have been Civil Defense Director and I have personally conducted a total of five disaster exercises to test our plans and procedures. These exercises involved the Parish Police Jury and the Parish Emergency Team, as well as state and federal government employees.

Q. Have you had occasion to direct or otherwise participate in evacuations within the Parish?

A. Yes. Because of the proximity of St. John the Baptist Parish residents to hazardous chemical manufacture, storage and shipment, and because of other emergency condi-tions, we have from time to time conducted partial parish evacuations.

O. Would you briefly summarize the nature and frequency of such evacuations?

A. During the past six months we have recommended evacuation on at least three occasions. In one instance, 6,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid were released accidentally into the atmosphere and into neighboring ditches. Recently, we had an accidental discharge of 600 gallons of gasoline to a surface l

area, and a few weeks ago we evacuated following a ship i

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l collision and fire involving 81,000 tons of crude oil. The evacuations were handled by parish officials in an excellent manner, with excellent cooperation from the public. During 1981, we evacuated on at least two other occasions. Prior to that I would say we have had partial evacuation of some residents of the Parish approximately twice a year.

Q. Are you familiar with the State radiological emergency preparedness plan, which includes the emergency plans for St. Charles Parish and St. John the Baptist Parish?

A. Yes I am. For the past four years, radiological emergency planning has occupied about 60% of my time and effort ,

and about 50% of this time has been spent in offsite emergency planning related to Waterford 3.

Q. What was your role in the development of the St.

John the Baptist enclosure of the State emergency preparedness plan?

A. I have been involved in the development of the St. John the Baptist plan from the beginning. I have met many times with LP&L, State, St. Charles Parish, LNED and LOEP of-icials on such planning. Both Mr. John Lucas, the St. Charles Parish Emergency Preparedness Director and I have worked closely and extensively together in developing the parish plans, and we have had total input into them. The emergency plan as submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for review is our plan, and I can attest it is a workable plan for the residents of St. John the Baptist Parish.

Q. In the event of a serious radiological accident at the Waterford 3 site, would you be able to evacuate the areas of your Parish which are within the ten-mile Emergency Planning Zone, as contemplated in the Plan?

A. Yes. The plan and its implementing procedures will incorporate detailed specifics for evacuation of sections i of St. John the Baptist Parish, or all of the parish within the EPZ, depending on such things as meteorological conditions, release rates, duration of release, type of material released, and projected doses expected offsite. This information, together with Protective Action Guides, will give us all of the necessary parameters to recommend an evacuation. We feel we can warn 100% of our population with the outdoor siren system, and I feel that our fan-out warning system can also be imple-mented for evacuation. The decision to evacuate would depend on the conditions existing at the time of an incident.

Q. Please briefly describe the public education program for periodically informing residents of evacuation procedures to be followed in the event of a serious radiolo-gical accident at the Waterford 3 site.

A. Before Waterford 3 is operational, our agency will have completed training with the industrial sectors, our schools, both private and public, and our hospital and nursing home on the actions necessary to be taken by them and all of our parish residents in the event of a nuclear incident. In addition, LP&L and I have been planning for distribution of an emergency information brochure which will indicate evacuation routes, pick-up points, and reception centers in neighboring parishes. The brochure will include a detailed map of the 10-mile EPZ with evacuation quadrants well marked off and detailed so that a school-aged child can identify the area in which he lives. The distribution of brochures with maps of evacuation routes has worked well for us in the past. Plans also call for direct communication with radio stations WCKW-FM and WKQT-AM and an override on cable TV. In the event an evacuation is recommended, I feel that all residents of St.

John the Baptist Parish in the EPZ can be notified within 15 minutes.

Q. Please briefly describe the programs for providing residents with evacuation instructions at the time an evacuation is ordered.

A. If an evacuation is ordered, the public alert siren system will be sounded. The emergency forces from the St. John Parish Sheriff's Office, fire departments, Police Jury personnel and civil defense workers will start a fan-out warning system throughout the Parish. While this is in progress, all residents would tune in to WCKW and WKQT or a cable TV for information. Sheriff's Office personnel, State Police, fire personnel, and other State and Parish personnel will take positions at key traffic locations to make sure that traffic is flowing smoothly and the evacuation is going per the  !

Parish emergency plan. The Emergency Operations Center at Laplace will air direct to WCKW and WKOT, and will also provide via cable TV stations pertinent information on evacuation procedures. Support parishes will also provide assistance such as transportation, for example, from St. James Parish buses.

Reception centers will also be opened in support parishes and law enforcement officials would converge upon Laplace to help us ,with the evacuation in St. John Parish. Roads would be blocked to control access to St. John Parish. Again, residents would be notified by WCKW and WKQT, by an override of the cable TV system, and by emergency forces including the fire and Sheriff's office using outdoor warning or PA devices.

Q. Please describe the evacuation warning system to be activated in the event of a serious radiological accident at the Waterford 3 site, including the fixed siren system.

A. The St. John the Baptist Parish Warning and Evacuation System is composed of a radio and fixed siren outdoor warning system. In the event of an accident at Waterford 3, the Sheriff's Office in St. John Parish would contact the Civil Defense Director or one of his delegated assistants. Communication by paging devices would be used to locate Sheriff's Department personnel, the Parish President, and key Civil Defense personnel. The Sheriff's Office also has the capability to alert the Parish Fire Department personnel by use of portable tone-alert receivers and can also notify deputies in the field by use of law enforcement frequencies.

The Parish siren system and the other outdoor warning systems are activated from the Parish Emergency Operations Center (EOC), and can also be activated by the Sheriff's office, if necessary. Since WCKW and WKQT are 24-hour radio stations, arrangements have been made by Civil Defense to interrupt regular programming to disseminate such public information which will be pre-prepared evacuation messages. Sheriff's Office and Fire personnel would assist us in making sure the sirens have been ectivated in all parts of the Parish. In addition, they would start a fan-out system using their own warning or PA systems. St. John the Baptist Parish, in addition to law enforcement personnel, would use Civil Defense personnel in areas of the Parish that are not normally covered by sirens or other notification systems, such as hunting and fishing areas and some outlying camps.

Q. Does the public notification system have the capability to alert and notify the population within the EPZ within 15 minutes?

A. Yes. With the outdoor siren system, comprised of 17 sirens within the EPZ in St. John Parish, and the fan-out teams of the Sheriff's Office and fire department and civil defense workers, with 24-hour radio station coverage and a cable TV override, with tone-alert and radio communication that i

we now have with industry, schools, nursing homes, and with all other emergency resources in St. John Parish, I feel that we can notify the population within the 10-mile EPZ within 15 minutes of the time of the decision to notify the public.

O. Does the public notification system provide direct coverage of essentially 100% of the population within five miles of the site?

A. Yes. The public notification system provides direct coverage for essentially 100% of the population within five miles of the site. This will be accomplished by the outdoor sirens placed at specific locations in the parish to cover our population.

O. What special arrangements will be made to notify persons such as hunters and fishermen in the wetlands who may not have been alerted by the fixed siren system?

s A. Arrangements have been made to notify persons such as hunters and fishermen, especially those in the wet-lands. This will be accomplished by Wildlife and Fisheries agents and by our own local agents in the St. John the Baptist Parish area. This will include the use of State-provided helicopters with outdoor speaker systems, in which we can fly '

over the interstate highways and wetlands to notify those people outside of the siren system coverage. Measures will be taken to ensure that all known hunting and fishing camps receive notification.

Q. In your opinion, will the residents of your Parish within the EPZ receive adequate public information and emergency notification for evacuation in the event of a serious radiological accident at the Waterford 3 site?

A. The residents of our parish within the EPZ will receive adequate public information and emergency notification for evacuation in event of a serious incident at Waterford 3.

Pamphlets will be distributed to all residents before Waterford 3 is in full operation. All public and private schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and major industries will bc given early notification of an accident by fixed FM two-way radios or by time-alert receivers. Schools, nursing homes and hospitals will receive instsruction and training on what must be done to carry out the Parish plans.

O. Are you familiar with the evacuation time estimate study provided by LP&L?

A. Yes, I am familiar with the evacuation time study provided by LP&L. I have reviewed this document thor-oughly and I find it to be an excellent document. I agree with the assumptions which have been computerized as far as evac-uation time estimates for St. John the Baptist Parish are concerned.

Q. Do you agree that the assumptions, evacuation scenarios, and evacuation time estimates in that study are realistic for your Parish?

A. Yes, I agree with the assumptions, the evac-uation scenarios, and the evacuation time estimates in the study. Some two years ago we conducted one ourselves here in St. John Parish by placing people at strategic locations during the rush period. Our estimates were close to those in the LP&L study. In fact, our figures were about 30-40 minutes lower than the LP&L results.

Q. Who makes the decision to commence evacuation, and how is that decision made?

A. The decision is in the hands of the Parish President, that person being the highest elected official in the Parish. If he is not available in an emergency, I, as the Civil Defense Director, would make that decision. However, when we have time, the Parish President, the Civil Defense Director, and the Sheriff would probably critique what has to be done, talk it over, weigh the various considerations and look at the Protective Action Guides, to determine whether evacuation is appropriate. There should be no doubt, however, that we would do everything in our power to make the decision that would protect the health and property of the people we represent.

Q. Have provisions been made in the emergency plans to adequately provide you with the information necessary to enable Parish officials to make the decisions to commence evacuation?

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A. Yes, provisions have been made in the emergency I plans to adequately provide me with the information necessary to enable me to determine whether to evacuate or take some other_ protective action. The detailed information that we will receive through LP&L, the Protective Action Guides, the protection guidance by the LNED, the. radiation monitoring at the plant site and throughout the EPZ, and the wind direction and other weather conditions are called for in the plans to be provided to our Parish officials. We feel with this informa-tion we can make the right decisions as to whether or not to recommend evacuation.

Q. Do you believe that it is necessary to actually evacuate people during the exercise of the emergency plans to P adequately test the emergency plans?

A. I do not believe that it is necessary to actually evacuate people during the exercise. The emergency plans and the related operating procedures spell out the plan i of action for each agency in an emergency. The procedures will detail specific locations.and actions for each and every unit  !

of every emergency agency. The important part of the exercise is to test the activation and mobilization of communications, l personnel, and resources. The actual movement of people would add little to the exercise, so I do not think it is necessary to actually move people. During the exercise for Waterford 3, we will move school buses, although we will not actually ,

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I transport the children. We will test notifications as  ;

necessary. We will ask the administrators of each agency at that time to give us an estimate of how long it will take them to clear their buildings. We will put law enforcement offi-cials at strategic junctions.

Q. Will there be adequate provisions for evacuating people who are without vehicles?

A. Yes, there will be adequate provisions for evacuating people who are without vehicles. Plans are for the St. John the Baptist school buses to either make a return trip in the Parish to pick up those people without transportation or to have support parishes such as St. James Parish run their buses into St. John Parish to pick up the people. The public, private and parochial schools within St. John Parish will be used as pickup points for evacuation, supplemented by addi-tional pickup points. Our pre-distributed brochures will recommend that people who do not have transportation make arrangements with their neighbors. If it is not possible for them to make these arrangements, they are instructed to return the postcard being distributed with the brochure, in advance of an emergency, or to call our Civil Defense office in Laplace.

Q. Will there be adequate provisions for evacuating school children?

A. Yes, there will be adequate provisions for the evacuation of school children. The school board has an emergency plan which includes provisions for radiological i emergencies, including evacuation of school children. The schools will receive advance notification by fixed FM receivers and two-way radio communication to enable early mobilization of transportation reserves, even before a decision on evacuation l has been made. St. John the Baptist Parish bus reserves will {

, first be directed to the publics private, and parochial-schools l I nearest the Waterford 3 plant. The children will be-taken to (

relocation centers outside the EPZ, and the buses will return-

$ to evacuate schools that are farther away from the- plant. This  !

plan provides adequate school evacuation because of the location of our schools (the plant is not located in St. John [

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! Parish). In addition, we are making arrangements with the  ;

I assistance of LOEP, for obtaining buses from support parishes.  :

j If the use of buses from support parishes will enable us to i i

evacuate the children more quickly, we will use them. Our J

i first and highest priority is the early evacuation of our  !

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schools.

0 Will there be. adequate provisions for evacuating  !

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3 aged or crippled persons? i i

i A. Yes, there will be adequate provision for  !

i evacuating aged or crippled persons. A roster of aged and i l

! handicapped people who need transportation has been compiled  !

l. through the assistance of social service agencies and organiza-  ;

. t j tions, and will be updated semi-annually. We will provide f

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transportation first from private automobiles by people within  :

these persons' neighborhoods. In addition, if this is not i sufficient, we will use vans, buses, ambulances and other available transportation resources to move all of the people i

St. John Parish to reception centers outside of the EPZ.

Q. Will there be adequate provisions for evacuating institutionalized persons, such as the sick and hospitalized, i and imprisoned persons? ,

A. What I said above applies here as well. .

Institutionalized persons, inicuding those in the nursing home and those that are sick and hospitalized, will be moved in the ,

same manner as the aged and handicapped residents who lack ,

transportation. As far as the people in prison, Sheriff Lloyd 1

L Johnson of St. John the Baptist Parish has already signed an I agreement with St. James Parish to relocate his prisoners from ,

the Laplace jail to the St. James Parish Jail in Convent. The Sheriff feels there he has sufficient transportation on i assignment to adequately move his prisoners. In addition, the l r

Louisiana Department of Corrections had agraeed to provide  :

additional transportation if necessary. In the event that more transportation is necessary, we will use buses as we would for -

school children or those people who lack transportation.

O. Will there be adequate provisions for evacuating  ;

transient workers?

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. ,o A. Yes, there will be adequate provisions for evacuating transient workers. Most transient workers in St.

John Parish work for construction projects or in our industrial' plants. When the industrial plants are notified, the normal procedure is for construction workers to be released first.

The construction workers and the plant workers normally have their own transportation to and from the job. However, those transient workers in St. John Parish who do not have their own transportation will be treated the same way as we would any other resident who does not have transportation. All public, private and parochial schools in St. John the Baptist Parish would be used as pickup points, supplemented by additional pickup points, and buses would make periodic runs until all the residents of St. John Parish are safely evacuated.

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