ML20235M848
| ML20235M848 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Seabrook  |
| Issue date: | 02/21/1989 |
| From: | Barnicle K MASSACHUSETTS, COMMONWEALTH OF |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20235K640 | List: |
| References | |
| OL, NUDOCS 8902280454 | |
| Download: ML20235M848 (70) | |
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~ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD Before Administrative Judges:
Ivan W. Smith, Chairperson Richard F. Cole Kenneth A. McCollom
)
In.the Matter of ) Docket Nos.
) 50-443-OL ;
PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY OF ) 50-444-OL NEW HAMPSHIRE, ET AL. ) (OFF-Site EP)
(Seabrook Station, Units 1 and 2 )
)
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS TESTIMONY OF KATHRYN BARNICLE ON STATEMENTS OBTAINED FROM SCHOOLS AND SPECIAL FACILITIES IN THE MASSACHUSETTS EPZ, HOST AND HOSPITALS AND THE SHRINER'S AUDITORIUM i
Q. Please' state your name, position and business address.
A. My name is Kathryn Barnicle. I am an Investigator with the Public Protection Bureau of the Department of the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. My office is located at One Ashburton Place, Boston, Massachusetts.
1 y Q. Please briefly describe your testimony.
A. At the direction of an Attorney in the Nuclear Safety Unit 1 i i
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of-the'Public Protection Bureau I obtained statements from the administrators of schools and special facilities in the
' Massachusetts EPZ.during January and February 1989.
The
, focus of those statements was how the SPMC could, and/or would, be implemented'by the. school or special' facility in the-event of a radiological emergency. After the statements were reduced to writing, I called the schools and facilities back'and read or sent the statements to them to confirm the accuracy of the substance. Any changes noted were duly made.
I also obtained statements from the host hospitals and host Special Population Congregate bare Center'under a similar procedure. Those statements follow as the substance of my testimony.
STATEMENT CONCERNING THE SCHOOLS IN THE PENTUCKET REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT Tom Jenkins, the Superintendent of the Pentucket School District, confirmed information regarding all five schools within the district. The five schools are: the Pentucket -
Senior High School, the Pentucket Junior High School, the John C. Page School, the Sweetsir School, and the Donaghue School.
The first three schools are located in the Town of West Newbury and the latter two schools are located in Merrimac. Mr. ;
Jenkins confirmed for all of the schools that neither he nor the principals of the schools had any knowledge of the New Hampshire Yankee generic school plan. He said no one had any
a s knowledge, 6 hey could not and would not rely on it in the event of a radiological emergency. Furthermore, he stated that in the event of a radiological emergency it would be almost impossible for a school liason from New Hampshire Yankee to get in touch by telephone with any of those schools. Each' school has only 2 to 3 phone lines coming into it. Mr. Jenkins was I the Superintendent of a school district near the 3-Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania when the nuclear incident occurred t
there. He related how after initially telling the schools in his district that he would contact civil defense and get back to them with instructions on what to do, he had enormous !
difficulty in reaching the civil defense to get instructions and then even greater difficulty in getting back in touch with the schools to give them instructions. He said that telephone communication in the 3-Mile Island area became completely blocked for several hours.
He said that if school liasons called the principals of the five schools, those principals would be unable to state how many buses would be needed because all bus arrangements are conducted through his office. The Pentucket School District contracts with the McGregor Smith Bus Company. Jenkins said he did not know how many McGregor Smith buses would be available in the event of a radiological emergency. He pointed out that one of the difficulties would be rounding up the drivers to report back to the bus company. He said that on days when it was foreseeable that there might be an early release due to l
h snow, he always communicated with the bus. company ahead of time to have bus driver's ready to report back if an early release became necessary. He pointed out that in the even of a-
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radiological emergency, such arrangements could not be made to insure the availability of bus drivers. He said that the principals would not have authority to' authorize any release of their students. He said such decisions would have to go through his office. Mr. Jenkins said that he would want at least 2 to 3 adults on each bus, but he did not know how many faculty members could be relied upon to ride the buses. He expressed concern that many of his staff, particularly those with families and/or small children, would feel obliged to attend to those responsibilities rather than ride the buses.
Jenkins.said that he did not know how the principals of the various schools would respond if they were asked rather they had any EBS messages. However, he said that before the principals would or could act to engage in any sheltering or evacuation activities, they would have to consult with him.
Jenkins said that none of the schools had sheltering plans or procedures, and that implementing the sheltering procedures set forth in the school protective message would be difficult particularly at the Sweetsir School. The Sweetsir School has no basement and no interior rooms without windows. '
Furthermore, that particular school has exterior walls that are made up of approximately 50% glass. He said that sheltering in the Donoghue School would also be problematic in that it has no
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underground basement or interior rooms without windows.. He said that the principal at that school would probably remove the student 4 to the gym after hearing the sheltering procedures
, in the school protective action message, but that the gym had several high windows.
He said that in the even of an evacuation, if no instructions were given to parents to stay away, the traffic jams outside the schools would be chaotic. He said that in his opinion the only way to be able to control traffic in such a situation would be to have armed police present.
STATEMENT CONCERNING THE SALISBURY SCHOOLS CONFIRMED IN A CONVERSATION WITF JIM GUSTADT, j PRINCIPAL OF SALISBURY MEMORIAL SCHOOL Jim Gustadt said that he had no knowledge of New Hampshire Yankee's generic school plan since he had never seen it. He said that he was confident that the head of the planes School was in a similar position. Gustadt said that having never seen the generic school plan he certainly would not be in any position to rely upon it in the event of a radiological emergency.
He said that there are only two phone lines into the Salisbury Memorial Elementary School and two into the plane School. The Salisbury Memorial School has approximately 500 students and 50-60 staff members. He said that the two phone lines can both be busy at the same time on a regular basis, and that during any unusual whether situation that might result in m-_______.____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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i an early release the phones are constantly busy with parents I
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Gustadt said that neither school has any sheltering plans and that he would not know what to do if he was~ told by a school liason to implement sheltering procedures. He said that-even if he was told the sheltering procedures set forth in the school protective message, he would have to seriously think about the steps recommended and still would not be sure that he was sheltering students properly.
He said that in the even of an evacuation, he would have to consult with the Superintendent of schools. He'said all transportation is arranged through the Superintendents office, and that he would have no way of knowing whether any transport would be available for either the Salisbury Memorial School or the Planes School. Gustadt said that he would want at least 3-4 adults to go on each bus with the students, but that he could not count on having enough staff available. He said that most staff members are women wif^ families. He said that the number of staff members who do not have families was less than ten. Gustadt stated that he thought that while one couldn't predict how people were going to respond in that kind of a situation, it was foreseeable that it would be chaotic.
He said that if he received a phone call from the New l Hampshire Yankee school liason he would have many questions for the liason. He would want to know what had happened; how much time was available; when did it happen; what was the wind i u----._-..---__.-._. . - . - - - _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ - - - - . _ _ - - - - . _ _ _ _ . - . - - - --_- _ - - _ _ _ _ - - . - . _ _ ._ _ ..~s
. t direction; how much radiation was released; how soon until the buses were due to arrive; what happened at the plan' site. He said that [f the liason could not tell him when the buses would arrive it would be extremely difficult to hold the staff to take care of the children.
STATEMENT CONCERNING THE HARBOR SCHOOLS CONFI'.MED BY A CONVERSATION WITH DR. DI MAURO There are four Harbor Schools facilities. Two are located on Rolf's Lane in Newbury, and two are located in Amesbury.
The Harbor School resident population is comprised of emotionally disturbed male and female adolescents. The residents have been typically referred to the facility because they have been difficult, if not, impossible to handle in their home or prior residence situation. Typically, they have had substantial behavioral difficulty in schoL1 and in most cases have run away from home on at least one occasion.
While the facilities all have basements, Dr. DiMauro stated that if a sheltering recommendation was made, the Harbor Schools would never implement such procedures. He stated that-the residents would be totally unmanageable trying to shelter ;
in a basement of the facililty. He stated that if the facility was to receive a phone call from Seabrook recommending sheltering, the facility would in all likely evacuate anyway.
After having heard that the plan called for housing all of evacuated special facility populations in one large congregate
care center, -he stated that such a situation would be dif ficult
.if not impossible to. control. He stated that in his best
. estimation, approximately 1/3 of the Harbor School residents would literally run away from the facility. Dr. DiMauro stated thatosuch a congregate care facility is. totally unsuitable for the residents of the Harbor Schools.
STATEMENT CONCERNING THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN THE TOWN OF.NEWBURY, CONFIRMED IN A CONVERSATION WITH RICHARD JOY, PRINCIPAL OF THE NEWBURY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL There are three elementary schools in the Town of Newbury, the Byfield School, the Woodbridge School, and the Newbury Elementary School. The Byfield and Woodbridge Schools are both relatively small schools with student populations of approximately 75 students and 97 students respectively. The Newbury Elementary School has approximately 407 students attending it. The Town of Newbury is serviced by the Salter Bus Company. That bus company also provides bus service to several other towns in the area including Newburyport and Ipswich. The Salter Bus Company normally uses 9 buses to service the Town of Newbury. Those same buses service all the elementary school and the Tritton Regional School on a staggered basis. According to Joy, to evacuate the three elementary schools at the same time, including enough room for l
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1 adults to_ staff the buses, would take approximately 15 buses.-
Mr. Joy stated that he would want at least 3 adults on each bus. He said he was not sure how many, if any, of his staff he could count.on to ride the buses. He said that many of his staff had young children and/or families that they might feel compelled to attend to in the event of a radiological emergency.
Mr. Joy confirmed that he had no knowledge of the New Hampshire Yankee generic school plan and could not or would not rely upon it. He said that if he was to receive a call from someone identifying himself as the school liason from New l Hampshire Yankee, he would attempt to reach the superintendent of schools to find out what he should do. The superintendent of schools is responsible for arranging and scheduling bus transportation for the school district. Because there are not enough school buses for the entire student body in the school district to be transported at one time, the superintendents office, by necessity, is the clearing house that manages transportation requirements.
Mr. Joy said that if the school liason told him to implement sheltering procedures he would not know how to go about doing that. Even after having heard the sheltering instructions on the school protective message, he stated that he would not know how to go about sheltering in the Newbury Elementary School. That school has no basement and no interior s rooms without windows. Mr. Joy said that at one point when the
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Town of Newbury was working with the Seabrook plant on i developing an emergency plan, a civil defense expert told him that the oK,1y way to effectively shelter the Newbury Elementary School would be to build a large barrier wall on the northern side of the school.
Mr. Joy said that he would want to know several things from a school liason who contacted him including: where are you evacuating us to; what level of emergency exists; how long are 1
we going to have to be evacuated for. l STATEMENTS CONCERNING THE BELLEVILLE SCHOOL AND THE 1 BROWN SCHOOL CONFIRMED IN CONVERSATIONS WITH HAROLD INGALLS, PRINCIPAL OF THE BELLEVILLE SCHOOL. AND GURNEY ARNOLD, PRINCIPAL OF THE BROWN SCHOOL Both Mr. Ingalls and Mr. Arnold confirmed that they had never seen the generic plan issued by New Hampshire Yankee and could not rely upon such. Both principals foresaw significant difficulty for a school liason trying to reach the two schools in the event of a radiological emergency by telephone. Each school has only two lines coming into it. The two lines to each school regularly become filled up during the course of normal operations of the school and whenever there is an adverse whether condition, such as a snowstorm, parents completely clog the outside lines. Furthermore, the Belleville School phone lines are linked to a computer and cannot operate if electricity is lost. I Each principal stated that he would not know how to l
implement sheltering for his school. Even after the sheltering '
instructions from the school protective message were read to the principals, each said that he would not know how to go
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school has a% basement or interior rooms without windows. Even the corridors between the classrooms have large windows at the end. Mr. (_rnold said that it would be extremely difficult to organize sheltering procedures in the event of a radiological emergency because the schools had not been trained or drilled in such procedures.
Both Mr. Arnold and Ingalls stated that in the event of an evacuation neither school could count on having any transportation for students or staff available. Each principal explained that while they would want staff to ride on the buses with the students, neither could count on having any staff available who would be willing to accompany the buses. Within the City of Newburyport there were discussions with the teachers union at one point about teachers accompanying students in the event of an evacuation. The representative of the teachers union took the position that the teachers responsibility under their jobs were only at the school. The responsibilities did not encompass accompanying children on the i
buses. The conclusion reached by the City and the union were that the City could not compel the teahers to accompany children on the buses. It is noteworthy that that discussion about teachers accompanying students on buses took place even during a time when the City of Newburyport was trying to engage in emergency planning.
Mr. Arnold stated that if he was asked by the school liason whether he had a EBS message he would say that he did. He
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~ STATEMENT CONCERNING THE'AMESBURY COUNTRY DAY _ CONFIRMED IN A CONVERSATION WITH CAROL BARTON Carol Barton, Administrator of the'Amesbury County Day.
School located at 186 Market Street, Amesbury, MA 01913',
confirmed that she had no knowledge of a " generic plan" for schools drawn up by New Hampshire Yankee in connection with SpMC. She added that at the present time they have no emergency plans in effect other than for fire. She said there is no early release plan because her students are on split-shift. Ms. Barton stated that there is one (1) incoming
'l phone'line and it often does_become busy during the normal course of a business day. She said that it is foreseeable that in the event of any emergency it would be difficult to reach the school by telephone. She said that is often the case with snowstorms.
Ms. Barton said that if the school liaison were to say implement sheltering procedures she would not know what to do.
The facility is a converted split-entry household with no basement and no interior rooms without windows. In the case of an evacuation she said she would need one bus to accommodate her staff and students. She would want supervision on buses but said she is unsure whether her staff would be willing to stay because they have families of their own. She said that she has never discussed with staff what would happen, and l
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STATEMENTS CONCERNING THE WINDMILL COUNTRY RAX2 CONFIRMED IN A CONVERSATION WITH OLGA ANDREWS Ms. Andrews' confirmed that she had not seen an evacuation plan since 1985 when the towns were working.with the utility to' come.up with an evacuation plan. She added that at the present time she has no knowledge of any other plan for emergencies other than fire. She stated that there is no need for an early release plan because all seventy (70) of her students are dropped off and picked up by the parents.
l Ms. Andrews stated that there is only one phone line coming into the building and it often becomes busy during the normal course of a business day. She said that it is foreseeable that in the event of a nuclear emergency it would be very difficult to get'through. Bad weather alone produces a clogged phone line. She stated that if she had to shelter she would bring children downstairs to a lower level which does have windows.
In the case of an evacuation she said she would need enough transportation for seventy (70) children. She stated that the faculty would want to return home to their own families, therefore she would need additional personnel to ride the buses.
Ms. Andrews stated that she would not place children on the l
bus until she knew where they were going so she could notify the parents. She suggested that all this information should be on Emergency Broadcast System.
. e STATEMENTS CONCERNING THE NEWBURYPORT SCHOOLS Statements Concerning the Newburyport Schools, Confirmed In A Conversation With Joe Donnelly, Assistant Superintendent Mr. Donnelly confirmed that he did not have in his possession or has ever seen the " generic school plan" for any schools within the Newburyport EPZ. He stated that the only information he has regarding radiological emergency is an outdated draft plan from 1985 that was withdrawn. Mr. Donnelly went on to say that he would call the superintendent and/or Civil Defense to find out what to do before acting.
In the case of sheltering he said he would not know what to do, and would keep the students in school until he heard from the Civil Defense. He pointed out that sheltering would be a problem at the Belleville School, the Kelly School, and the Brown School. All of the buildings have large windows, no interior rooms, and the basement would not be sufficient to hold students. He said he would have to move children to the corridors, but they have windows at either end.
Mr. Donnelly expressed great concern in implementing any plan because all communication would have to be done by telephone and he feels this mode of communication would be I
inadequate. The Kelly School has only one phone line; Belleville and Brown Schools each only have three outside phone lines and they are regularly filled during normal usage.
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Mr. Donnelly is also concened about parents coming to' pick up their children. This would cause a.particular problem at the Kelly 5chool.
The Kelly School is located in the center of town on Main Street and on a normal day traffic is very congested. In an evacuation process it would be impossible to get buses down there with the combination of parents and the flow of traffic.
Currently he said the town contracts with the Salter Bus l Company, but they could not depend on them in the event of a radiological emergency. The Newburyport schools are on a staggered schedule because there are not enough buses to take all students at once. Mr. Donnelly said he would want staff on buses with' children but it is very likely that staff would object. He would want at least three adults on each bus. He added most staff members are from the surrounding areas and have small children of their own, and legally he could not make them ride the buses.
In closing he stated that if such a situation were to occur all the principals would have to confirm any action they took with the superintendent's office. Each individual principal does not have the authority to conduct sheltering or evacuation on his or her own.
STATEMENTS CONCERNING THE NEWBURYpORT HIGH SCHOOL Ms. Lonnard, princips: at Newburyport High School, confirmed that she had never seen a " genetic school plan" put
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d D forth by the-New Hampshire Yankee plant. She stated that the only emergency plan presently in operation is that for fire, andcouldf_otrelyonanysuchplanincaseofanuclear emergency. _She pointed out that'on occasion they do have to release students in case of a snow storm. The procedure for a snow release would be that the Superintendent's office would
- contact her and tell her when buses were going to arrive.
Ms. Lonnard said that LL1 scheduling of buses goes through the main office, and it is her responsibility to take. care of the students.
She said the school currently has four (4)'outside lines, and in the normal course of the business day the phones all become regularly busy. She said that it is foreseeable that'in the case of a nuclear emergency the phones would ring off the hook with concerned parents, therefore, making it impossible for the school liason to get through.
When asked if she had any sheltering procedures at the present time she said no.
If presented with an evacuation situation she would have to consult with Superintendent. She said her transportation requirements would be somewhere around 20 buses. Mr. Lonnard added she could ant count on any buses from the Salter Bus Company because they service all the schools in town as well as Salisbury, W. Newbury, Rowley, and Newbury.
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. o She said"-he would want staff on-the buses but stressed that she believed staff would not be available to ride the buses, and she could not contractually make them ride with the
, students. She pointed out that some students have their own cars and it would be difficult to control them. In addition, she said the school is centrally located and with the current traffic conditicn it is hard enough to'get here. The front-circular drive becomes clogged easily and goes right onto High Street on a normal day. She can't imagine what it would be like in the case of a nuclear disaster.
She said that she did not know if she would have an EBS 1
message, but would hope that parents would not come to the school to' pick up students and not to panic. Again, however, she thinks this is unrealistic.
STATEMENT CONCERNING THE NEWBURYPORT MIDDLE SCHOOL Nancy. Griffin, Vice Principal at'the Newburyport Middle School, confirmed that she had never received a " generic school plan" issued by New Hampshire Yankee.
Ms. Griffin said 65% of students ride the bus each day under a contract with the Salter Bus Company. When asked if she could rely on these buses in an emergency evacuation situation, she responded no. Ms. Griffin added that the Salter Bus Company serves five schools in Newburyport as well as Newbury, Rowley and Salisbury, and they are currently operating on a double run schedule.
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. o She said they have two outside phone lines, and in the usual course of the business day get tied up. She confirmed that it is foreseeable that the lines would be busy if the special school liasons were to try to get through. Ms. Griffin said parents would be calling constantly.
In the case of an evacuation she would need 11 buses, but that would have to be cleared with the Superintendent's Office. Ms. Griffin stated she would want at least two staff members on each bus.
In addition, Ms. Griffin expressed concern that there would be a problem with parents trying to pick up children. She also stated she would have several questions for the school liason such as: Where they were going? How much time do we have to evacuate? Where are buses coming from? If buses don't arrive what do we do?
As to the gustion of an EBS message she said that that is a Superintendent's Office decision. She does not have authority to put anything on the air.
STATEMENT CONCERNING IMMACULATE CONCEPTION SCHOOL Joseph Ritchie, principal of the Immaculate Conception School in Newburyport, said he had heard of New Hampshire Yankee's " generic school plan" but he did not have one and it was not in use at his school. He went on to say that they do not have an early release plan in place at the current time.
Mr. Ritchie said at the present time 58% of students participate in a car pool and pointed out that all students are within the , ten (10) mile zone. He said that 29% of students are bused within Newb'uryport and the remainder are walkers.
Currently Immaculate Conception uses one (1) school bus from the city and.the school has one (1) bus of their own on the premises.
He went on to say that in the case of an early release he coordinates dismissal with the Superintendent's Office in Newburyport and would not release his students unless parents were notified. Mr. Ritchie stated that there is only one (1) phone line coming into the school and in the' event of a nuclear emergency it would be almost impossible for a school liason to contact him.
If the school liason were to get through and ask him to implement current sheltering plans he said he would not know what to do. If the school liason were to say evacuation has been called for what are your transportation he would say he needed at least three (3) buses, but again stressed that he believed the school liason would not be able to get through.
He added that he would want faculty on the buses, but could only realistically rely on 12 of the 17 staff. He pointed out that the children would be wary about going on buses without someone they knew. Mr. Ritchie said it would be extremely difficult for buses to reach the school because you have to go through the center of town and the traffic jam due to parents would cause even greater deley.
. o He said-the only EBS message would be to assure parents that their children were fine and please do not attempt to come to school t;o pick up children.
STATEMENT CONCERNING THE TRITTON REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL Mr. Robert Walsh confirmed that he did not have a copy of the " generic plan" for schools drawn up by New Hampshire Yankee in connection with SpMC. He stated that there are only three phone lines into the school and those lines, during the usual course of business, are frequently full. He stated that it was foreseeable that in the event of an emergency it would be difficult to reach the school by telephone.
Approximately 95% of students who attend Tritton Regional normally ride the bus. The buses that service the school are contracted from both the Salton Bus Company and McGregor Smith. Mr. Walsh said in the event of a radiological emergency he did not know how many, if any, of the regular buses would be available. He said that both bus companies have obligations to other towns and there are double runs in effect at the present time.
Mr. Walsh went on to say that there are 1100 students enrolled at Tritton and about 130 staff members and in case of an emergency situation buses would have to be sent I
accordingly. He said he would like at least one staff member per bus, but realistically he did not know how many staff I members would be willing to accompany students. primarily because they have family of their own to think about. He said students were at the school from 7:20 A.M. until 5:30 p.M.
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l In addition, Mr. Walsh expressed some concern about liability of the school, and the issue of authorization of release in_such a situation.
He also pointed out that he would not be able to control the influx of parents coming to the I school or' students who had their own vehicles from leaving the site.
He said that if he received a call from the school liason he would question the credibility and there would be a need to I
confirm accuracy. Mr. Walsh said that he did not know of any.
sheltering plans for the school. He said that he didn't know if intake vents could be shutdown, the maintenance man would have to be contacted in that kind of situation.
Mr. Walsh said that he would want an EBS message to be sent out for parents to inform them of the destination of buses.
STATEMENT CONCERNING THE GOVERNOR DUMMER ACADEMY.
Mr. Lawrence Piatelli, Assistant Headmaster, confirmed that he.had no knowledge of the " generic plan" for schools drawn up by New Hampshire Yankee in connection with SpMC. He stated that there are five outside phone lines into the school, and during the usual course of the day these lines often become busy. He stated that in the event of an emergency it is foreseeable that it would be difficult for the school liason to get through.
Mr. Piatelli stated that next year thcir boarding capacity will reach 75% and that there are approximately 50 staff I
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members on campus on a 24 hour2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> basis. He pointed out that presently there are 100 day students, a great majority of what arefromw{thinthezone,whichinhisopinionwouldresultin at least 100 parents trying to reach their children.
As far as transportation needs in the event of an emergency-the school currently has four vans but only has a license to carry seven people per van. Therefore, they could only safely evcuate 28 people on their own. He stated that he would have to rely on bus service for 400 people which translates into 8-10 buses. Mr. Piatelli said they currently contract with the Salter Bus Company, but could not count on them as a mode of transportation. He indicated that he would want staff on the buses, but when a vote was taken at a faculty meeting the teachers unanimously said they would secure students onto the buses but would not personally. ride the buses. They have their own families to be concerned with.
Mr. Piatelli said that the school has no plans.for sheltering. He said that he would act in an ad han manner.
He expressed concern that realistically in the event of such emergency, buses would not even reach the schools and the influx of parents would add to the mass confusion.
STATEMENTS CONCERNING THE SCHOOLS IN AMESBURY Statement Concerning the Amesbury High School Confirmed in
, it Conv(rsation with Gerald Schroek, Principal Mr. Schroek confirmed that he had no knowledge of the-
" generic plan" for schools drawn up by New Hampshire Yankee in connection with the SpMC. He stated that there are only:three phone lines into the school and those phone lines, during the usual course of business, become completely filled. He stated that it was foreseeable that-in the event of any emergency, it would be extremely difficult to reach the school by telephone.
Mr. Schroek stated that if he received a telephone call from the New Hampshire Tankee School Liaison, he would attempt to confirm any course af action with the superintendent;of schools in.Amesbury before agreeing to it. He stated that he would attempt to reach the superintendent by telephone or going over to the offices of the school department. Mr. Schroek stated that he did not know how to implement sheltering in the Amesbury High School. He was read the instructions that the l
school liaison has in the school protective message, he stated that he would still not know how to implement sheltering. The Amesbury High School has no basement and approximately 30% of the exterior walls are glass. A portion of the High school is only one story.
Mr. Schroek said that in the event of an evacuation, he would not know how many, or if any, of the school buses usually used by th;e Amesbury High School would be able to show up. He stated that Amesbury contracts with buses with the McGregor Smith Bus Company. The school department itself does not own any buses. He said that he would want two-three adults to go on each bus to ride with the students in case of an evacuation,.
but that it would be difficult and/or unrealistic to attempt to get the faculty to go on the buses. There are approximately.
600 students at the school and 57 staff members. Mr. Schroek said that he will allow any students who drove to school to leave in their own cars and parents to pick up students.
Statement Concerning the Amesbury Middle School Confirmed in a Conversation with Raymond Tiezzi on February 8. 1989 Mr. Tiezzi stated that he had never seen the " generic plan" for schools drawn up by New Hampshire Yankee under the SpMC.
He said that he had no knowledge of it, and that the school had no emergency plans. Mr. Tiezzi said that there are four incoming phone lines to the school, but that those lines often fill up in the normal course of business of the school. He said that it was foreseeable that in the event of a radiological emergency, those phone lines would become completely blocked.
Approximately 44% of the children who attend the Amesbury Middle School normally ride the bus. The buses that service
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l the school ere the same eight buses that go to the Amesbury High School from'the McGregor Smith Bus Company. After the eight buses go to the Amesbury High School then they go the middle school for the students there. Mr. Tiezzi said that in the event of a radiological emergency he did not know how many, if any, of the regular buses would be available. He said that the school often has difficulty obtaining buses for field trips. McGregor Smith Bus Company serves the Pentauket Schools System, Groveland, Merrimac, West Newbury, and Amesbury School Systems. Mr. Tiezzi said that in the event of a radiological emergency he thought that gridlock would occur at the school between parents coming to the school to get their children and encountering the flow of traffic on Main Street in Amesbury. ,
1 The Amesbury Middle School is located directly on Main Street.
Mr. Tiezzi said that in the event of an emergency that he could not count on any of the buses that normally serve the school being ave.ilable any more than the Amesbury High School could.
He said that buses are arranged through the superintendent's office.
He said that if he received a call from the school liaison, he would question the credibility of the caller much the same as if someone called in a bomb threat. He said that he would try to contact the superintendent of schools by attempting to call the superintendent.
Mr. Tiezzi said that he did not know of any sheltering plans for the school and would not know how to go about i
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sheltering s~tudents after hearing the sheltering instructions contained in the SpMC. He said the school building was in poor shape, and_outside air easily leaked in. He said that the different parts of the school were built at different times. l There is an air circulation system that would be extremely difficult to turn off because of its hodge podge nature. He said that he would not know how to go about turning off all the air and vents in the air circulation system. The school has no basement and the only interior room without windows of any size is the cell room. That room could only hold about 50 children.
In the event of an evacuation he said that a majority of teachers would not get on the buses. The school has a policy t.at when taking students off the school property on trips, approximately one adult for every ten students should be present. Mr. Tiezzi would want one adult for every ten students on the buses in keeping with the policy. The school as 487 students and 65 staff members.
Facts Concerning the Amesbury Elementary School Confirmed by David Shaw, principal, in a Conversation on Februarv 8, 1989 Mr. Shaw stated that he had no knowledge of the generic plan for schools prepared by New Hampshire Yankee in connection with the SpMC. He stated that while the school has emergency plans for such events as heat failure, that plan calls for the
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children to walk to a nearby church. He said that there are no
..~ o plans' currently in place for suchfevents as early school dismissals. Mr. Shaw said that there.are three phone lines-coming inbo_ the school and they of ten become completely
,, filled. RHe said'that in the event of an emergency at Seabrook, it would be extremely difficult to get through to the school.
Approximately 60% of the children who attend the school are delivered by buses. As with the Amesbury High School and-Middle School, buses are provided by the McGregor Smith Bus Company and a provision of them is set in a time sequence. Mr.
Shaw said that'in the event of a Seabrook emergency, he would-not know if any of these buses would be available. Mr. .Shaw said that he would want a minimum of two teachers per bus to accompany the students. He said that heldid not know how many teachers would be available, but'that some teachers had expressed some reservations to him about their' ability to stay with the children. Mr. Shaw stated that bus drivers from outside the area may have difficulty finding the school and if they are inexperienced with the approach to the school might well have difficulty negotiating the intersection at Market Street and Cedar Street.
Mr. Shaw indicated that there was no suitable shelter from radiation at the school. The school is built along two long corridors with classrooms off each side. The classrooms have at least-60% glass walls. There is also glass between the classrooms and the interior central corridor. The school has
t no basement"nor any interior rooms without windows other than two small rooms of single office size. He was concerned whether hencould effectively shelter children even after having
,, heard the instructions in the protective message.
l Mr. Shaw said that if he received a call from the school liaison, he would want to know where the buses would be coming from. He said that he would respond in an ad han manner ,
depending upon the nature of the emergency and the situation i
that existed at the-time. I The Statement of Caro: - Davis, Principal, Concernina the Horace Mann School in Amesbury Caroline Davis, Principal, said that the Horace Mann School has.approximately 225 students attending it. Thirty of those l attend on a full-day basis and the remainder is divided into two largely equal shifts: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The student population is comprised almost entirely of five and six year olds. Eighty percent of the children that attend Horace Mann School rid.e buses to the school.
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There are only two phone lines into the school and those two lines often are busy at the same time. As a matter of fact, because the phone lines under normal usage conditions are inadequate to the needs of the school, it was proposed that another line be added. Instead of adding the line, however, the school attempted an interim step which is presently in
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place of adding a jumper ~.between the two lines. The jumper has not eliminated the frequent congestion of the lines.
Ms. Dav_is said that in the event of an emergency at Seabrook, she.didn't know if there would.be any buses available to the> school. As with other schools in Amesbury, buses-are~
arranged'by and through the superintendent's office. The l school uses buses provided by the McGregor Smith Bus Company.
Those same buses,.however,.do several' trips per day and the school schedule is timed to accommodate the'use of the buses.
Because the students at the school are so young, Ms. Davis thought that several adults would have to be on each bus to accompany the children. As a rule of thumb, normally for out of school trips the school tries to maintain a four children to each adult ratio. Ms. Davis thought that very few of the-staff that work at the school would be available to accompany the children on the buses. She could think of only four staff members at the school who were likely to be willing to accompany the children on the buses. She said that in the event of an emergency at Seabrook the children are likely to be very frightened. Ms. Davis said that she had'never seen and i had no knowledge of the generic school plan drawn up by New Hampshire Yankee. She said that if the school liaison was to-call and tell her to implement sheltering procedures, she would not know what was meant by sheltering. She also stated that there is no room in the school that does not have windows.
Event the rooms in the basement have a significant number of windows.
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Ms. Davis stated that if the school liaison called.her, she l i
would have several questions for the school liaison including:
where are they proposing to take the children; how bad is the
- release; how much time would be available to shelter and/or evacuate; what other support is available to assist with the children at the school; what is the name and phone number of someone to contact about the situation; and how long will it take to obtain support.
Statement of Diane Raineri Conernina James Steam Mill Ms. Raineri stated that the population who resides at James-Steam Mill is. elderly with an average age of seventy-eight.
James Steam Mill is a large apartment complex with approximately 99 apartments in it. One hundred eleven tenants inhabit those apartments. Five of those apartments are specially designed handicapped apartments.
James Steam Mill has only one outside phone line coming into it. Someone is available to answer that phone only between 9:00-3:00 Monday-Friday. Other than during those hours, any incoming phone calls go to an anwering service. The l only staff who work at the facility are Ms. Raineri, a housekeeper, and two maintenance men. Neither the office nor the facility have staff on duty on a 24-hour basis.
1 I Ms. Raineri stated that several of the resident population l
are mobility impaired. Her best estimate was that wheelchair r _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ - - - _ _ _ -
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. vans would be needed for'approximately 20 residents-in the I complex. She said that in the event of an emergency at Seabrook, _approximately ten people would be needed to' assist the elderly population at James Steam Mill in evacuating from their apartments. j l
Ms. Raineri stated that if sheltering was recommended, it would take her approximately an hour in culmination with her maintenance men to go around and make sure all the windows in the facility were shut. She said that if sheltering was ordered, she would not able to get resident population into the basement since many of'them cannot negotiate stairs and that in large'part, the basement is nothing more than a crawl space.
She said that except for the bathrooms, virtually all of the.
rooms in the complex have good size windows.
Ms. Ronecki said that some of the residents at James Steam Mill have hospital beds with bedrails. A portion of the population at the facility suffers from senility and is likely to become disoriented if placed in a large open spaced congregate care center with several hundred other special facility residents.
Statement of Scot Ulrich, Administrator of Brigham i Manor. Confirmina Information on That Facility Scot Ulrich stated that he had spoken to a representative from the Seabrook plant in December of 1988 and had a copy of the generic plan provided by the plant. He said that he would i
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probably be 8ble to implement an evacuation of the facility between the hours of 7:00-3:00 when he has normally approximate _ly ten people working in his nursing department and
., another fifteen-seventeen persons in the building. 'However, during the evening hours between 3:00-11:00 he has only four persons on staff in the nursing department and approximately another four. individuals in the building between the hours of 4:00-9:00. There are also four additional non-nursing personnel who work until approximately 7:30. During the hours of 7:00-11:00 there are only three nursing staff on duty. Of those one is a nurse and two are nurses aides. There are three nurses who are regularly assigned to the night shift and one of those three is herself, approximately 70 years old.
Brigham Manor is a level three care nursing home facility, but approximately five of the sixty-four residents at the facility are really level two patients. They remain at Brigham Manor because there are not enough level two nursing home beds available. Mr. Ulrich estimated that approximately forty of the residents at the facility could climb up onto a school bus with some assistance. Approximately four or five of the residents would need to evacuate on stretchers by ambulance.
Another twenty residents would need wheelchair vans. Mr.
Ulrich stated that if bed buses were used instead of ambulances, he would not have the staff to send anybody with the patients on the bed buses. Nor would he have the staff to accompany persons in wheelchair vans. He said that several
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residents at.the facility would need monitoring in the event of an evacuation because the suffer from a variety of disabilities including congested heart failure. Furthermore, he said that approximately 40% of the-residents at the facility are incompetent and would need assistance in going to the bathroom. Many of the residents could not even tell somebody that they had to go to the bathroom.
There are only three outside telephone lines into Brigham Manor and they regularly become completely filled in the course of a normal business day. Mr. Ulrich stated that in the event of a radiological emergency, he believed that approximately 75%
of the residents would have family, acquaintances, or friends calling.in to find out what was happening to the residents.
Mr. Ulrich stated that if a special population liaison was to call him and tell him that sheltering was recommended for Newburyport, he would not know what sheltering was. He said that there would also be difficulty in implementing the sheltering procedures described in the special population protective message since there are no rooms in the facility that de not have windows, except for a small office. He also said that there were several vents coming into the building that could not be shut.
Mr. Ulrich stated that approximately 50% of the residents at Brigham Manor would have great difficulty in a congregate care center that housed several hundred other special facility
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e residents within one large space. He said that many of the residents from Brigham Manor would beccme completely disoriente ,. He said that in large part that many of them are already disoriented through senility or Alzheimer's~ Disease.
According to Ulrich several of the residents at Brigham Manor have unstable medical conditions that require nursing attention and care. He said that approximately 40% of the resident population would need sanitary supplies since they are incontinent. Furthermore, many of the Brigham Manor residents require bedrails on their beds and would have great difficulty sleeping on a Red Cross cot without injuring themselves.
STATEMENT CONCERNING ANNA'JACOUES HOSPITAL IN NEWBURYPORT Anna Jacques is a 156 bed hospital located in downtown Newburyport, Massachusetts. Usually is has no more than 121 beds occupied, or an 80% occupancy rate. Its usual patient distribution within its various units are as follows: 8 beds in its intensive care unit; 19 beds in the intermediate care unit; 3 medical / surgical care units with 32 beds, 31 beds, and 26 beds. In the event of a radiological emergency that required evacuation, approximately 30 of the patients would need am'oulances. Those 30 would include the 6 patients from the intensive care unit and the 15-20 patients who are post-operative. An additional 35 patients would need to be transported in wheelchairs or some other kind of chair. The l
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remaining 55-patients would probably be able to ambulate,-
although some would need assistance in doing so.
AnnaJhcquesdoeshaveaworkingrelationshipwithAmCare Ambulance Service. AmCare serves not only Anna Jacques but all the nursing homes and other special facilities,' including-Amesbury Hospital, in the EpZ. AmCare has 5 ambulances, but at
-any given time, only 3 ambulances are available due to limited staffing. In the event of an evacuation due to a radiological emergency, the Anna Jacques hospital administrators were not sure that any of AmCare's ambulances would be available for use by the hospital because of the fact that they are used by all the other special facilities in the EpZ. If an evacuation took place, the hospital would not have enough wheelchairs for the approximately 35 people who would need chair transportation.
The hospital has wheelchairs for approximately half the number of people who would have to be evacuated by chaircar.
The hospital has twelve incoming lines and they are regularly all completely filled. The hospital administrators said that if there was an emergency at Seabrook, it would probably be very difficult to geth through to the hospital because of the volume of calls that would come from patients' family, most of the patients and their family come from the EpZ. In the event of a radiological emergency, once word of the emergency got out, it is foreseeable that it would be ;
extremely hard for anyone from New Hampshire Yankee to get through to the hospital.
Patient ~eare staffing at the hospital is broken up into three shifts: 7:00-3:30, 3:00-11:30, and 11:00-7:30.- On weekdays 74,00-3:00' shifts there are approximately 44 nurses and 4 nursing assistants on staff. In addition there are also 1-2 nursing supervisors and 1 emergency room physician. On weekends, the number of nurses drops to 25 and there is only 1 nursing supervisor present. On the 3:00-11:30 p.m. shift there are 20 nurses, 2 nursing assistants and 1 nursing supervisor.
On the 11:00-7:30 a.m. shift there are 15 nurses and 1 supervisor present. In the event of an evacuation, nurses would have to accompany at least the 8 intensive care patients in the ambulances to provide constant monitoring and needed medication to them if they became unstable during transit. If an emergency evacuation was announced on the 11:00 p.m.-7:30 a.m. shift, or even the 3:00 p.m.-ll:30.p.m. shift, there would not be adequate staff to care for, transport to a loading station, and help load the remaining patients.
Neither Lois Anderson, Director of Emergency Services, John Guidora, Executive-Vice President, or Deborah Blanchet, Assistant Vice President for Patient Care, knew of any emergency plan for a radiological emergency. The hospital does have a plan for decontaminating individuals who come into contact with radiation, but no one knew of any plan on how to respond to a radiological emergency. The 3 aforementioned individuals all stated that if they received a phone call from a representative from New Hampshire Yankee telling them to
implement a radiological emergency plan they would not know how to go about doing so. They said that there were no existing sheltering procedures at the hospital. They said that if sheltering was recommended by a New Hampshire Yankee liason, the ambulatory patients could probably be moved to the basement, but it was foreseeable that approximately 75 patients would have to remain upstairs on the wards including the 8 in the intensive care unit and the post-operative patients. The hospital administrators indicated that if an emergency requiring sheltering or evacuation was to occur at night, it would be difficult to move all the patients given the limited staffing on the night time shifts.
The hospital administrators stated that they did not know what potasium iodine was useful for in connection with radiation. They stated that they would not ask New Hampshire Yankee for potasium iodide supplies even for their patients who could not be evacuated or effectively sheltered because they knew nothing about the drug. They stated that they thought that one physician on staff might know about potasium indine and how to administer it, but that physician was not on staff on a 24 hour2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> basis.
STATEMENT CONCERNING AMESBURY HOSPITAL Amesbury Hospital is located in Amesbury, Massachusetts and has a total of 59 beds. It is usually 80-100% occupied.
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Approximately 70% of the patients in the hospital are over age
- 65. The hospital'has 4 intensive care beds. It has'a 12 bed child phycj,atric ward. It has a medical / surgical unit with 39 beds. In the event of an evacuation due to a radiological emergencv .t would need about ten ambulances to transport the 4.
patients in its intensive care unit plus post-operative patients and others needing close monitoring. Approximately 26 of the remaining patients would need wheelchair vans.
The hospital operates on 3 shifts: 7:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.,
3:00 p.m.-ll:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.-7:00 a.m. On the weekday 7:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. shift, there are approximately 16 persons on the nursing staff, 4 supervisors and 4 nursing assistants.
On the 3:00 p.m.-ll:00 p.m. shift there are 6 nurses, 1 supervisor and 5 nursing assistants. On the 11:00 p.m. 7:00 a.m. shifts there are 4 nurses, 1 supervisor and 5 nursing assistants. On weekends the staffing is reduced to 7 nurses on the 7:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. shift with 1 supervisor and 5 nursing assistants. On the other two shifts staffing remains'much the same as during weekdays except that there is a greater likelihood that one or more employees will not show. If a radiological emergency were to occur on an evening or night time shift, according to Betsy Cohen and patricia Dawnes, it would be difficult if not impossible to evacuate, shelter, or move the patients to shelter given the limited staff resources.
The' hosp ~ ital'does not have any sheltering or other-
. radiological. plans. If'the hospital were to receive a phone-call from a_New Hampshire Yankee liason who was to read the sheltering instructions found in the protective action message, sheltering would be extremely difficult.to implement. There is-one interior room without windows that could hold a' maximum of approximately 45l people. Furthermore, maintenance workers are at the hospital only between 8:00 A.M. .and 5:00 P.M. Only the maintenance workers know how to shut off the air circulation system.
There are ten phone lines coming into the hospital and all-are frequently busy. The patients who go to the Amesbury Hospital typically live in and/or have family in the immediate area. The hospital administrators expressed the opinion that in the event of a radiological emergency the families of all the patients would jam the phone lines in an attempt to communicate about the status of the patients.
If an evacuation was recommended, the hospital would not have enough wheelchairs on hand to provide chairs to all the wheelchair dependent patients who would need to be transported i in chair cars. Furthermore, there are 2 town ambulances used by the Amesbury Hospitol, however, those ambulances are staffed I i L through the Fire Department and it is unclear whether staffing l i
would be available in the event of a radiological emergency, j q
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The hospital administrators did not know anything about the use. of potasium- iodide as a radioprotectiv.e drug. They were also confid_ent that the other hospital' staff would not know about potassium iodida Knowing about the drug, they would not request it from ORO. The above statement was obtained from Betsy Cohen,' Assistant Administrator of the Hospital, and Patricia Downs, Director of Nursing.
Statement Concerning Special Facilities Operated By Ihg Newburvoort Housino Authority Francis Donohue, Executive Director, Newburyport Housing Authority is listed under Appendix M of the Plan as being the contact person for the Sullivan Building located at 25 Temple Street, Newburyport, Horton Terrace, North Atkinson Street, Newburyport,.and the John Kelliher Development, Story Avenue, Newburyport. He's identified in Appendix M as Buster Donohue.
As Executive Director of the Newburyport Housing Authority he is also responsible for a residence for mentally retarded persons located at 41 Milk Street, Newburyport and a residence for mentally retarded persons at 93 Story Avenue, Newburyport.
Both those residences are owned and operated by the Newburyport Housing Authority.
In connection with the Sullivan Building, Horton Terrace, and the Kelliher Development, Mr. Donohue indicated that the phone number listed for those facilities is the office phone number for the Newburyport Housing Authority. The office of the Newburyport Housing Authority is opened only on Monday ]
through Friday between 8:30 and 4:30. Only during those times l
l is anyone available to answer the phone number listed in 1
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Appendix M of the SPMC as the contact number for the Sullivan Building, Horton Terrace, and the Kelliher Development. When the Housing, Authority office is closed, the. phone line area code (508) 465-7216 simply rings and goes unanswered. Mr.
Donohue's personal residence phone line is not listed under.the name of Buster Donohue. With respect to the residences located at 41 Milk Street and 93 Story Avenue, Mr. Donohue indicated that while those residences are staffed on weekends and during i
evenings, the staff at those residences are two couples who l
provide care for the mentally retarded residents. During the
' Monday through Friday daytime hours when the residents are at programs, the staff couples take their free time off.
Therefore, the residence numbers listed in Appendix M might well not answer during daytime hours on Monday through Friday.
Mr. Donohue stated that the Sullivan Building is an apartment building with 100 units occupied by the elderly and handicapped. Among the residents are three handicapped individuals who rely on wheelchairs to get about and four or five persons who can ambulate only with the assistance of walkers. There is also one blind person who lives in the l building. All of those handicapped individuals would need assistance in an emergency situation. The Sullivan Building is a high rise that has no basement. It is close enough to the Seabrook Plant so that from the top floors of the Sullivan l
Building one can actually see the plant. j i
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The Sullivan Building is not staffed on a 24-hour basis.
While the office of the Housing Authority is located on the first floor.of the building, that office is only opened from 8:00 to 4:30 on Monday through Friday. The staff that is in that office is comprised of Mr. Donohue, one full-time secretary, and two part-time secretaries. None of those individuals are professional health care or emergency care workers, nor are they even trained to provide health or emergency care service. Horton Terrace and the Kelliher Development have no permanent staff assigned to them. There is not even a central office at those facilities. While those facilities and the Sullivan Building are serviced by two full-time and one part-time maintenance men, those maintenance personnel float between the three facilities on an as need basis. The hours that the full-time maintenance men work are 8:30 a.m. through 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. There is no staff at all assigned to either the Sullivan Building, Horton Terrace, or the Kelliher Development during the evenings, nights, or on weekends.
The Sullivan Building has no sheltering procedures of its own. It has no basement and is a building that is seven stories high with about 14 apartments per floor. Approximately 40% of the outside walls are glass. At any given time the Housing Authority Staff does not know how many windows the residents of the building have opened in their apartments. The later is also true with respect to the 50 apartments contained in the 9 buildings at Horton Terrace, and the 42 apartments contained in the 10 buildings in the Kelliher Development.
. . t None of the~ Buildings,at Horton Terrace or the Kelliher Development have basements or apartments containing interior
' rooms witho_ut' windows.
,, None of the facilities operated by the Housing Authority have evacuation procedures. While there have been two. fire drills at the Sullivan Building during the last several years, both of those fire drills were planned for with the residents given ample notice that the drills would take place on a particular date at a particular time. Residents who live at the Sullivan Building and Horton Terrace would need assistance to be able to climb up stairs onto a school bus. Some residents of the Sullivan Building, notably the handicapped, would not be able to get on the school buses at all.
There are only two phone lines going into the office of the Housing Authority that is located-at the Sullivan Building.
There is one phone line going in to the residents at 41 Milk Street and one phone line going in to the residents at 93 Story Avenue. There are no phone lines going into any central location at Horton Terrace or the Kelliher Development. With l
L respect to the two phone lines going into the Housing Authority office in the Sullivan Building and the single lines going into 41 Milk Street and 93 Story Avenue, it is foreseeable that in the event of a radiological emergency, those phone lines would be used by the families of the tesidents to try to ascertain what is taking place with respect to those residents.
1 Statement Concerning the Port Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing and Retirement Home, Confirmed in Conversation With John Caine,' Administrator and Kathy Pepe, Director of-Nursina i
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The Port Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing and Retirement ,
Home has a resident population of 102 persons. The average age- l of the population is approximately 85 years. Ninety percent of that population are severely debilated and cannot walk.
Approximately 10% can walk with assistance.
Ms. Pepe said that she'had never seen a copy of'the generic plan and that if the facility had it, she did not know where it would be. Her understanding was that at one point, a representative of New Hampshire Yankee provided the facility with a copy of the generic plan and was supposed to come~back and discuss it with the facility, but never returned or followed up on it. She stated that, in any case, she could not put her hands on it in the event of.an emergency and was sure that the general staff nurses would be unable to find or refer to it in the event of an emergency. i There are two floors at the port Rehabilitation Facility.
There are 51 patients on each floor. The usual daytime staffing for each floor is three nurses, nine nursing assistants, one maid, one porter, one rehabilitation aide, and one bed maker. On the 3:00-11:00 shift there are two nurses, two male assistants, and five nurses aides. On the 11:00-7:00 shift there is only one nurse and three nurses aides. On weekends the 7:00-3:00 shift staffing reduces down to one j supervisor, five nurses, nine nurses aides, one maid, and one porter. The staffing for the 3:00-11:00 shift and 11:00-7:00 i
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shift' remain-the same as on the weekends. During the weekdays, there are a variety of other personnel in the building including Jwo activity persons, two secretaries and one administrator, a head of nursing, a housekeeping supervisor, two maintenance workers, a social service worker, and a central supply person. Mr. pepe expressed the opinion that if a radiological emergency were to occur during the daytime hours, the facility would have enough staff on hand to evacuate and/or shelter the population. However, if protective action recommendations were made during the evening or night shifts, Ms. pepe expressed great concern as to whether the staff on hand could cope with the movement of their population. She said that in her opinion, it would take a staff of approximately 25-30 people to evacuate the facility.
Ms. pepe said that there were four outside lines coming into the facility, but those outside lines often became busy during the course of normal business day usage. Ms. pepe stated that in the event of a radiological emergency she thought those lines would be filled by people calling to find, out what was happening to the residents of the facility.
Approximately 50% of the patients come from the immediate i Newburyport area.
l In Ms. pepe's estimation, approximately 20 of the patients at port Rehab would have to be evacuated by ambulance, and of those approximately five would need constant nursing supervision during the course of evacuation that would necessitate I accompaniment by the staff of the facility. Thirteen of those 1
residents have feeding tubes and would need close monitoring.
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Except forLthe approximately ten patients who could walk, the rest of the population would need wheelchairs, jerrychairs, or recliners._
In the event of a radiological emergency, Ms. Pepe expressed the opinion that she could only count on herself and the administrator of the facility coming in to assist in an evacuation or sheltering action. There is no basement or interior rooms without windows. Ms. Depe said that if she was to receive a call from New Hampshire Yankee recommending sheltering, she would not initially know what they meant and if they were to read her the sheltering instructions in the protective action message, she still would not know how to go about implementing sheltering given the logistics of the facility. There is a central air circulation which she herself does not know how to turn off and she is confident that most of the nursing staff would not know how to turn it off. While maintenance personnel would know how to turn it off, no maintenance men are present on the premises at night. She said that if sheltering were recommended, she did not think that they could do anything at the facility other than leave the patients where they were.
She said that she thought that it would take approximately 30 people to effectuate an evacuation at the facility and those people would simply not be available if a radiological emergency happened at night.
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Ms.. Peps stated that.approximately 97% of the patients at
< Port Rehab need bedrails up while they are in their beds. She said_that 4,irtually 100% of the population would.need to be transferred to a level 1 or 2 nursing home facility. She said that transfer to a congregate care center where that level of care would or could not be provided would be totally unacceptable to the port Rehab population.
Statements Concerning the Maplewood Manor Nursing Home, Confirmed in a Conversation with Bob Shaughnessy Maplewood Manor is a nursing home with a resident population of 160 persons. They range in age from 65 to 105. There are-approximately 100 females and 20 males. The majority of residents were transferred to Maplewood Manor from local hospitals. Approximately 30-50 places turn over every year and most of the attrition is due to death. Most of the population are hearing or sight impaired, and less than five people could walk up or down stairs. At the outside 20-30 people could, with assistance, be lifted onto school buses for transportation.
The staffing at Maplewood is broken up into three shifts:
a 7:00-3:00, a 3:00-11:00, and a 11:00-7:00 shift. The staffing remains pretty much the same on Meekdays and weekends. On the 7:00-3:00 shift there are nine nurses, eighteen nurses aides, I
and approximately twenty other personnel, four of whom work in the kitchen. During weekends, all but the four kitchen staff !
of the non-nursing staff not present. During the 3:00-11:00 shift there are five nurses, eleven nurses aides, and four kitchen workers until approximately 8:00. During the 11:00-7:00 shift there are only three nurses, five nurses aides, and one person working on the laundry.
l' Statement Concerning The Hillside Nursing Home Confirmed in a Conversation With Gail Rina Mrs.R{ragstatedthatHillsidehadreceivedacopyofthe generic plan from Seabrook but no one had ever carefully reviewed it'and if.an emergency were to occur at the plant, no-one would know how to implement it. The resident population at Hillside is' comprised of twenty eight ambulatory mentally;ill and mentally retarded females. The facility is' licensed to have twenty eight persons as residents. Currently, all but one resident is.on medication. The turn over rate at the facility.
is approximately eight persons per year. The age range-for the.
residents is 40 to 88 years.
For a substantial amount of the day there is only one-responsible person present at Hillside as a staff person. That one person is in charge of supervising the 28 resi' dents, providing them with their prescriptive medicine, and in assisting in various activities of daily life such as washing and dressing. A cook, a housekeeper, an administrator, and a part time activities counselor are available in the facility during the daytime but in the evening and at night only the one
" responsible" person is available. Mrs. Ring stated that she thought that if an evacution was called for in the evening or at night the facility would need at least three additional persons to effectuate an evacution.
When Mrs. Ring was informed that the SpMC called for an evacution of all special facilities in the EpZ to one large congregate care facility, she expressed concern that the
1 residents of-Hillside would become confused and disoriented in such a setting. Some of the residents at Hillside are psycotic-but have been stabilized through a controled environment and medication. Mrs. Ring'said that' removal to a large impersonal hall that was not a nuturing environment, could well cause some of the Hillside residents to fail. When asked what she meant by failing she stated that the disorientation that such an atmosphere could conflict on the residents would cause them to stop focusing on even such simple routines as eating and drinking. They could become dehydrated and ultimately dic.
Statement Concerning The Eastwood Resthome Confirmed In a Conversation With Jane Rochon, Administrator The resident population at the Eastwood Rest Home is comprised of 33 males and females. They range in age between 50 and 93. Approximately two-thirds of the population is women and one third is men. There is a relatively low turnover at the facility with only three to five residents changing on an annual basis.
Mrs. Rochon said that Eastwood has a copy of the generic plan but that she would not know how to implement it. She said that New Hampshire Yankee simply provided the plan but did not tell her anything about it. She stated that if she was to receive a phone call from a New Hampshire Yankee special population liaison who informed her of the sheltering l provisions and the protective action message, she would still would not know what to do. She said that on weekends at the
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facility the staff is comprised of part time workers and they would certainly not know what to do to implement sheltering procedures.g Mrs. Rochon said that that no employee had been trained in sheltering and that there was nothing in the policy or procedure book that would in any way assist them. The staff at the facility would not know how to go about shutting off combustion or air intake.
During the week there is a cook, nurses aid, housekeeper, and administrator at the premises. However, during evening, nights, and weekends there is often only one person on duty.
While Mrs. Rochon's daughter does live on the third floor, Mrs.
Rochon stated that she does not believe two people could effectively evacuate the facility. All the patients are on medication, and only 60 to 70 percent could pack for themselves.
Statement Concerning The Greenleal Nursing Home Confirmed In A Conversation With Maria Costin !
The Greenleaf Nursing Home has a resident population of approximately 60 persons. Seventy five percent of them are mobili1y impaired, and by Ms. Costin's estimate only ten would be able to climb onto a school bus for purposes of evacuation.
Even those individuals would need assistance to do so. Ms.
Costin estimated that approximately ten ambulances would be required and the rest could go by wheel chair car. According to Ms. Costin, Greenleaf normally uses Amcare services for transportation of the residents, but could not count on using Amcare during the emergency because Amcare serves all
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faclilities~in.the EpZ. Ms. Costin expressed concern that-one
- patient would be extr'emely difficult to evacute because she is
.so obese sh_e would need to have a special car provided.
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There are only two phone lines coming.into the facility,
. and Ms. Costin stated that in the event of radiological l
emergency she thought those lines would be filled. Ninety percent of the residents have families from the immediate. area, and they could be counted on to call in.
During the daytime shift there are 18 persons on staff.
Ms. Costin stated if an evacuation was called for she thought those eighteen people could-handle preparing the patients to evacuate. However, she said that they would need additional staff for any evacuation that was to take place on the 3 to 11 shift, and with respect to the night shift of 11 t 7 when there are only three people, she said that the she thought that 15 additional would be necessary to evacuate the facility.
Ms. Costin stated that the faci'lity could do nothing to implement sheltering procedures even if the sheltering procedures in the protective action message was converyed to the staff on duty over the phone because the facility has no basement or interior rooms without windows. Each patient's room has both windows and a door leading directly to the l outside. The central large room, the activities room, has a !
bay' window. Ms. Costin stated that the only thing that could be done with the patients would simply be to leave them in their rooms. Beyond that she could not think of what else to do.
l l Ms.LCostin stated that 90 percent of the residents have and g Luse bedrails.on'their beds. She expressed concern'that, patients WQuld have' trouble acclimating themselves to'a congregate. care. facility such as Shriners whereLthe residents would be housed with a large number of other special needs people. She commented that patients such as those at Greenleaf sometimes' die because of such a change in their environment.
When she was asked about potassium iodide, she stated that she did not know what it was, and would not know to request it from a special. population liaison. She also stated that since she did not know what it was, she would have to have doctor's orders to give it to the residents. Many are on various medications.
. Statements Concerning The Amesbury Nursing.Home Confirmed In a Conversation With Pat Mistkowski The'Amesbury Nursing Home has beds for 124 residents and it usually operates at close to 100 percent capacity. The residents are Level II and III care nursing home residents.
There are approximatley 30 beds occupied by bedridden non ambulatory Level II care patients. The second floor has 50 beds that are classified mostly as Level III care. Many of the patients on that floor are wheel chair bound and have limited mobility. About 20 of those patients are ambulatory but need assistance in amuulating. The third floor has 44 beds occupied mostly by ambulatory patients but there are five residents that need wheelchairs. Approximately 50 percent of the resident population has hearing and/or visual impairments.
. .9 During a-7 to 3 daytime shift, there are approximately 20 nursing personnel and 16 other staff present at the facility.
On the 3 th_11shiftthereare 13 nursing personnel and 4 other persons present. During the 11 to 7 shift, there are only 8 nursing staff present at the facility and no other staff.is present. Ms. Miscowski stated that she thought that if an evacution was recomended during the 7 to 3 shift, the staff at' the facility could cope with the situation. However, she said that if an evacuation was recommended during the thinly staffed night time shift, the facility would not be able to effectuate an evacuation without outside assistance. Ms. Miscowski said that could not rely upon existing staff during an nuclear emergency. She stated that a number of the staff came from out of state. She said that in order to evacuate ambulances that could accomodate 30 people would have to be provided. Wheel chair vans for approximately 44 persons would have to be provided. Approximately 50 people in the facility could with assistance go on to a school bus.
Ms. Miscowski said that the facility had no sheltering procedures. After hearing the sheltering instructions ccptained in the protective action message, she stated that the faciltiy has a basement that could accomodate approximately 80 percent of the resident population. Howver, she said that it would be virtually impossible to move the Level II unit comprised of approximately 30 beds. All patient rooms have windows. To move patients in a sheltering procedure she estimated it would take approximatley an hour in a half. She said one problem is that
-there would tot be enough wheelchairs to move everyone within the facility. She said that the facility would need approximate 1y 25 more in order to move the resident population pursuant'to a sheltering recommendation. One other problem that would exist with respect to sheltering was in the facility is that maintenance workers only work on the day shift. No one else would know how to go about shutting off the vent system.
Ms. Miscowski'said that she had no idea what potassium iodide is..She said that since she didn't know about it' she would not request it from New Hampshire Yankee Nor would she know how to go about administering it. She said that she doubted if any on staff would have any other knowledge.
Statements Concerning Host Hospitals
- 1. Facts Relating to the Lawrence General Hospital, Confirmed in a Conversation With Dr. Jose Silva Dr. Jose Silva said that to the best of his knowledge, Lawrence General Hospital is not under contract with New Hampshire Yankee as a reception hospital. He pointed out that they are the resource hospital for emergency medical services for Region 3, which includes Southern New Hampshire, and essentially it would be their responsibility to provide "off-line medical direction" in case of a nuclear emergency.
l However, he is very limited to the amount of care he could provide and that any plans that have taken place are only theoretical.
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- 2. Facts Relating to the Hunt Memorial Hospital, Confirmed by Ralph Tenaglia, Assistant Administrator of General Affairs.
Mr. Tenaglia confirmed that Hunt Memorial Hospital is a host hospital for the absorption of patients from within the EPZ zone. He went on to say that their agreement is to accept nursing home patients primarily because their facility is not equipped to handle any volume of contaminated, contaminated-injured, or excessively exposed patients. He said that their present bed capacity is 118, and they .rently operate on a 80% basis.
Mr. Tenaglia said on any given day the maximum bed capacity for absorption would be 30% and a minimum of 20%. He said that they would release patients on an evaluation basis to accomodate incoming patients from the zone. He added that the hospital would operate in a triage manner, making every effort to accomodate the incoming, but they do not have the training or facilities for decontamination.
- 3. Facts Relating to the New England Deaconess Hospital, Confirmed by Alice Siders.
Ms. Alice Ciders of N.E. Deaconess Hospital confirmed that they are under contract with New Hampshire Yankee as a reception hospital. It is her understanding that they would absorb patients, in case of a nuclear emergency, from Amesbury Hospital only These are patients who have been previously admitted to the hospital, and therefore does not include a decontamination process.
She stated that she believed they have a licensed bed capacity of 489, and their occupancy rate runs roughly at 85%.
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l Ms. Siders said she could not give a maximum or minimum bed rate on a given day because it fluctuates frequently. In addition,},hestatedthatDeaconesspatientswhocouldbe released or transferred to accomodate EPZ patients would be.
She went on to say that she has the ability to absorb post operative patients, intensive care, and psychiatric patients.
However, she could not attest to bed availability in each unit, and suggested contacting Paul Babcock.
- 4. Facts Relating to Brigham and Womens Hospital, Confirmed by David Drum.
Mr. David Drum confirmed that Brigham and Womens Hospital has been contracted to act as a back-up MS-1 and host hospital in case of a radiological emergency at Seabrook. He said the hospiFal's total bed capacity is 730. However, on a given day, occupancy can run from 504-720, usually the occupancy rate is 85-90%. In the case of an emergency, he said one could expect the hospital to have as many as 73 beds or as few as 20 beds (emergency room) available.
Mr. Drum said they would operate in a triage manner, and if they had to release less serious patients in order to accept patients from within the zone, they would do so. However, he said contaminated patients and or contaminated injured patients should be decontaminated before reaching host hospital. He went on to say that those who have been excessively exposed will not know until two or three weeks down the line and would need treatment. He stressed that Brigham and Womens would do the most they could to handle any and every level of care for
the~patientsi He said they could receive post operative,.
intensive care, some pediatric-(only have neo-natal on staff),
and materni_ty patients. He said adjustments would be made-so
[ , they could accomodate as many people as possible.
- 5. Facts _ Relating to St. Joseph's Hospital, Confirmed by Sister Doris Brouillette.
Sister Doris Brouillette confirmed that their facility is a j MS-1 host hospital. She said that the staff went through a four month training on the decontamination process. She added that their present bed capacity is 175, and they are operating at 100%. Sister Brouillette said that on any given day there would be a minimum of 20-30 beds available and a maximum of 70 beds. She stressed that their occupancy rate usually runs around 80% and has done so on a fairly regular basis, but in the occasion of 100% occupancy, they would release patients or transfer to other facilities.
Presently, she said, St. Joseph's is equipped to handle (availability during projected emergency):
Post operative patients 15-20 beds Intensive care patients 02-03 beds Intermediate care patients 06 beds Pediatric care patients 10 beds, but could ;
move more beds into rooms Maternity care patient 04 beds l
She added that they can handle all levels of care and would be /
able to decontaminate on site. She said that the hospital has trained about 80 staff members to work in groups of six through this process, and they could handle contaminated, contaminated-injured, and excessively exposed patients.
Statements Concerning.The Mentally Retarded Residence, Confirmed In A Conversation With Geraldine Dorr Ms. Dorr confirmed that she does not have knowledge of the
" generic plan" for special facilities drawn up by New Hampshire !
". l Yankee, therefore in the event of an emergency she would not be I able to rely on it or use it as a guide. She said the facility has two (2). incoming phone lines,.but pointed out that if an emergency were to happen at night the staff persons on duty may be deaf. Leading her to believe that unless the special facilities liason has a T.D.D., communication will be impossible.
Ms. Dorr stated that the population of residents is broken down into the following:
4 Male residents (all mentally retarded) all young twenties all deaf two mobility impaired (one needing wheelchair) 4 Female residents'(all mentally retarded) between ages of 20-40 all deaf one autistic one with mobility impairment She stressed that in the event of an evacuation or sheltering 1
she would need additional support, even if all staff were to come in. She said that she could realistically count on half of her staff to come in. The other half, however, have families of their own in the area. In order to effectively carry out any type of move she would need additional individuals with extensive training in sign langdage.
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As far as transportation she said they-have'one station wagon and_one van which could be used. Again she said they '
would need_ additional staff, each patient would need one-on-one.
individual attention. Ms. Dorr stated that there are
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tendencies for violence in these situations, and said even in routine school runs' violence is an every day occurrence. When asked if the patients could be housed in a congregate care situation she responded no. She said that many of the patients need to be isolated ih individual cubicals durr.ng the day.
They cannot deal with a magnitude of people, and even in a house of four people there are often behavior problems. In a congregate care environment she said these patients would j become bewildered and could not only harm themselves but others surrounding them. She mentioned incidents where the residents had broken a staff member's arm and another when a nose was broken.
l Statement Concerning The Amesbury Housing Authorities Confirmed In A Conversation With James E. Connor. Director The Amesbury Housing Authority owns and/or operates four elderly housing projects: Heritage Towers, Heritage Vale, pow Wow Villa, and Merri Village. The first three facilities are located in Amesbury, the fourth facility is located in Merrimac. James E. Connor, the Executive Director of the
Housing Authority, stated that he had never seen any generic-plan for the facilities and would not nor could not rely-on it-in the eve'Et of a radiological emergency.
Heritage Towers is a nine-story elderly apartment building
-comprised of 102 units. Eight of those units are occupied by the seriously disabled. Another 22 apartments that are not I
specifically handicapped housing are occupied by persons who are, in fact, disabled. Mr. Connor stated that in the event of- ,
I' a radiological emergency, the facility would need six-eight ambulances and at least two wheelchair vans.
Mr. Connor said that in the event of a radiological emergency, it would take hours to evacuate all the residents of the facility. There are only two elevators in the building.
While the offices of the Housing Authority are located adjacent to the facility, the staff of those offices is comprised of Mr.
Connor and three women. In addition to that staff, there are also four maintenance workers, but the maintenance workers serve all four facilities. There is no evacuation procedure per se at Heritage Towers and Mr. Connor said that in the event of an evacuation, he would simply have to go door to door to rouse the residents. He estimated that it would take 3-4 hours to cover the entire building.
Mr. Connor also stated that there are no sheltering procedures at Heritage Towers. He said that if he were to hear the sheltering instructions contained in the protective action message, he would go around to knock on doors to attempt to
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close the' windows for the residents. He would also. attempt to close the intake for the central air circulation system. He stated that he estimated that that would take approximately 30 minutes. He said that he did not believe he would be able to shut all the windows present in the building by himself. He went on to say that he had discussed the topic of assistance during a radiological emergency with his staff and they had all universally said that they would leave and not be available to help in such an ravent. Mr. Connor stated that other than shuting the windows and intake vent, there would be little else he would know how to do as far as implementing sheltering procedures. He said that there are no interiore rooms without windows to speak of in the building and there is no basement.
According to Connor, in order to effectuate evacuation or implement sheltering, he stated that there should be one person per floor to assist the residents.
Connor stated that there is one phone line' coming into Heritage Towers and that it is only manned during normal business hours. After that it is switched over to an answering service. There is no night staff with the facility. If the ,
answering service receives a call from a resident that there is a mechanical difficulty with an apartment, the answering !
j service calls up on of the maintenance people. The answering l service refers emerergency calls to the police or fire j department.
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Heritage Vale is a cluster housing project comprised of five buildings with eight units each. The average age.for the residents"Ln the project is approximately 78 years. There are no. basements in the buildings and there are no interior rooms without windows for sheltering purposes.
Connor said that in the event of a radiological emergency, he could not service Heritage Vale in any way because he would be completely tied up with providing whatever service he could to Heritage Towers. There is no central office, phone, or staff at Heritage Vale. Of the 43 residents at Heritage Vale, about 25V would need assistance in ambulating to climb onto a bus. By Connor's estimation, the facility would need additional staffing of five people or one person per building to implement sheltering or evacuation.
Pow Wow Villa is a elderly cluster. development similar to Heritage Vale, but located some distance away. There are 60 apartments at Pow Wow Villa divided among twelve buildings at two locations with five units per building. Like Heritage Vale, the buildings at Pow Wow Villa have no basements or interior rooms without windows and that sheltering would be difficult to implement. Furthermore, like Heritage Vale, there would be no staff available to provide assistance. By Connor's estimation, there again should be at least one person to assist the population per building or a total of 12 staff people to respond in the event of a radiological emergency. There is no 1
central office, staff, or phone at pow Wow Villa.
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l Mr. Connor stated that two of the residents of pow Wow Villa would need to be evacuated by ambulance and six others would need_ substantial assistance-in ambulating to get on to a
. bus.
Merri Village is also similar in construction to Heritage i
Vale. Again it is a. cluster development with eight units in six clusters for a total of 48 apartments. Also like Heritage Vale, there are no basements and no interior rooms without j windows for sheltering. Eight of the units at Merri Village are handicap apartments and are occupied by persons in wheelchairs. Chairvans would be required for all'eight residents. Whila there is an office at Merri Village, it is '
unstaffed. Again, Connor believes that one staff person per building should be available to assist the resident population in the event of a n evacuation or sheltering proceedure.
However, again, Connor said that he would not have any staff to provide to the facility.
Statement Concerning Elderly Housing projects Managed By The Newbury Housing Authority Confirmed In A Conversation With Evelyn Noyes There are three elderly housing projects operated by the ;
Newbury Housing Authority: Newbury Village, Quaker Hill, and Oak Ridge. The Newbury Housing Authority has only two staff members: Evelyn Noyes who is the administrator and one maintenance man who divides his time between Quaker Hill and Oak Ridge. There is also one part-time maintence man who provides services to Newbury Village. There is no central
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' ~e' . e, office for the Newbury Housing Authority. There is one office located at Newbury Village where the phone.line 462-3300 comes in. Howeve_r, that office is only staffed between 9:00-11:00 on.
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Other than during.those hours, the phone number listed in Appendix M 462-3300 simply activates an answering machine. .There is also an office located at Quaker Hill but that office is never staffed. The phone line that goes in there, 462-3422 rings in Evelyn Noyes' real estate office as'well as'in the vacant office. Evelyn Noyes' residential phone line is not listed under her.name, nor is it listed in Appendix M. According to Evelyn Noyes, any attempt by a special population liaison to alert elderly housing residents of Newbury to a radiological emergency would go completely unanswered if it did not occur within the six hours a week that the office at Newbury Village is staffed by her.
Newbury Village is a cluster housing project with six buildings containing eight units per building. Approximately
-50 people reside at the facility. Evelyn Noyes stated that one would probably need one person per building to assist in evacuating or implementing sheltering procedures. She stated that in the event of an evacuation, she did not believe that the population would go willingly or easily. In the past, when the facility has lost power and the housing authority has attempted to evacuate the population, many residents refused to leave.
Quaker H 11 is also a cluster development. There are two buildings there, one that contains eight units and one that contains sIzteen units. Among the apartments located at that
, facility are two that are occupied by handicapped persons.
While the handicapped persons are not in wheelchairs, the would need assistance in implementing evacuation procedures.
Oak Ridge is also a cluster development. It has three buildings containing four units and two nine-unit buildings.
Twenty-four people reside in the 22 units there. Three handicapped units are occupied there by persons who have handicaps but can ambulate with assistance. The rest of the apartments are occupied by the elderly. Evelyn Norse stated that one would need at least one staff person per building to evacuate Oak Ridge. The same is true with respect to the other two facilities.
Ms. Noyse stated that if she was to receive a phone call from a New Hampshire Yankee Special Population Liaison notifying to advise the residents to take some protective action with respect to a radiological emergency, she would refuse. She said that she would tell the Special population Liaison that "You created the problem. You take care of it."
Ms. Noyse states that she never agreed to take part in any plan or response organization or proceeding. She also states that she would not be able to do anything effective by herself. She :
said that she cannot well run down to the various facilities l
I and load the elderly on buses all by herself. Nor would'she.be able to run around and shut windows at- all the various apartments in the three projects.
Ms. Noyse stated that she has.her own family that she would feel obliged to take care of in the event of a radiological emergency and that she would not be available to assist the residents of the three elderly housing projects. Ms. Noyse stated that she was also concerned about what she would do if one of the elderly persons had an adverse reaction to hearing the news of a radiological emergency. She said that she was afraid that if a resident started hyperventilating, she would not be able to respond to that need. She said that many of the residents of the elderly housing facilities in Newbury would need assistance in implementing protective actions in the event of a radiological emergency because eventhough those who are not physically disabled, many experience senility. Ms. Noyse stated that some of the residents are so disoriented at times that they cannot find their way back to their own apartments when they leave.
She stated that to the extent that New Hampshire Yankee creates a situation, it has an obligation to provide trained staff to assist the residents of those elderly housing facilities.
Statements Concerning The Shriners Auditorium, Confirmed In A Conversation With Mr. Manchester, General Manager of Shriner's Auditorium.
Presently there are three (3) handicapped accessable entries in the rear of the building. However, they are about the size of garage doors and when they are open in the winter
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time, it freezes the interior space. The second. floor.is totally inaccessible for mobility impaired persons.
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It was Eoted that without'any elevator in the building all
', non-ambulatory patients have to enter through the back of the building, go through the arena, and then into the nursing home patient room. Mr. Manchester, however, assumed that his. center was to be used for school children and would not have to hold l people for any great length of time.
He stated that the area designated for nursing home patients holds around 500 people. It is to be noted that this room is presently set up banquet style and is used frequently.
In the event of a nuclear emergency, this room would need to be cleared of all tables and chairs in order to accomodate Red Cross cots. Mr. Manchester added that he is relying on the Red Cross to provide staff for dismantling and setting up. He has not and will not employ any volunteers from the Shriners, he stated that its the Red Cross's responsibility.
The area designated for ambulatory person is comprised of one large arena, often used for circuses or rodeos. It is one large room with cement floors with bleacher seating on either side. Access if from two back doors and one large metal garage i
door at the end of the arena.
In the immediate area there are two (2) lavatory facilities. One female and one male. According to Carol Beaudoin, president of Wilmington Committee for Citizens with
Disabilities; the women's facility is not handicapped accessible. There are additional facilities in the proposed nursinghoheresidentsarea. Ms. Beaudoin pointed out however
', that there are not enough facilities for the amount of people the arena will be housing, and went on to say that there would be some difficulty in manuevering even in the accessible laboratories. .;
I Statement Concerning the Cashman School Confirming the !
Conversation with Victor Atkins, principal, on February 8, 1989.
Mr. Atkins said that he had no knowledge of any generic plan for schools drawn up by the New Hampshire Yankee in connection with the SpMC. He said the only emergency plan that he knew of was for events such as gas leaks. Under that plan the student body was to walk to another school. He said that there are only three outside phone lines that come into the school and that those phone lines routinely become filled up.
He said that in the event of an emergency at Seabrook, it was foreseeable that it would be extremely difficult to reach the school.
l Mr. Atkins said that the school has no sheltering plans and l
l that trying to follow the sheltering instructions in the school ;
liaison protective message would be very difficult. The Cashman School is a large modern open-spaced design. It has
{ few separate indiscreet rooms within it. By and large the walls are moveable partitions. The school has no basement and
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i the only separate room that could accommodate any significant portion of the school population is the gym, but it has windows.
The maiority of the-children that attend the Cashman School ,
i normally ride a bus. Again, the buses are provided by the .
, a McGregor Smith Bus Company, and Mr. Atkins said he would not know how many, if any, would be available in the event of a radiological emergency. There are approximate 565 students and ,
1 60 staff members at the school. Mr. Atkins said that in the event of an evacuation that he would want at.least five to ten adults on'each bus, but he did not know how many of his normal staff would'be available to ride the buses. In addition to needing approximately ten buses, there would have to be chair vans to accommodate five children in wheelchairs.
Mr. Atkins said that he would want an EBS message to be sent out for parents not to try to come to the school.
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