nuclear accidents / drills / realistic scenarios / media - public perceptions

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>]

> I believe that it is not

> possible to create a realistic scenario that would hurt anyone. 



Ted,  I agree with this whole-heartedly. There was partial core melt, 

there were planned and unplanned releases throughout the initial 

phase of the incident, and beyond, and, in my opinion, nobody was 

hurt. I base this opinion on all of the follow-up epidemiological 

studies that have been conducted.



I also recall some of the outrageous drill scenarios we had, post-

TMI, to result in off-site as well as general pubic evacuations in 

the 10 mile EPZ. To get to this point, we had to release several 100% 

of actual core inventory. While this is ludicrous, it did result in 

evacuations :)  The problem I see from so doing, is that when the 

media attends the drill exercise, and they see and have a copy of the 

scenario and what the utility recommended for PARs, they rightly 

assume that this all CAN happen and this WOULD be the result of an 

accident. So, what does one do? You play the game as the scenario 

takes you. You treat the incidents as being valid, rational and real. 

At the end, you can't say, BUT this was all for play, and this CAN'T 

happen. The cat is already out of the bag, the 6PM news bite has 

already been produced.



Conclusion ... we should only test potential and plausible accident 

scenarios. Give the media and the public the best effort regarding 

what can really happen, and then plan for worse case, but using 

sanity checks. IF the govt. agencies want to test evacuation, use a 

different scenario, non-radiological. In FL, they do evacuate for 

hurricane, and other states have evacuated for chemical accidents. 

Use real world scenarios, and don't mix a nuclear drill with a non-

realistic dose evacuation.



Anyone from the NRC/EPA listening?



------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	

Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    

ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.			E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 				                           

ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  		E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com          	          

Costa Mesa, CA 92626                    



Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/scperle

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com



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