Emergency Planning Exercises -Reply

[Jim Hardeman <Jim_Hardeman@mail.dnr.state.ga.us>]

Sandy --

As a representative of one of those "governmental agencies"
that you spoke of, I couldn't agree with you more. Several
years ago, when FEMA first proposed that all radiological
exercises had to result in off-site doses of 1 rem whole body
/ 5 rem thyroid or greater in order to drive offsite protective
actions, we -- along with several of our colleagues, raised
holy hell. We pointed out that this requirement, along with
other "guidance" provided by FEMA, reinforces in the minds
of many otherwise reasonable people that every time
something abnormal occurs at a nuclear plant (which may or
may not result in the declaration of a Notification of Unusual
Event) that the event will escalate, eventually resulting in
massive releases of radioactive material and requiring
protective actions for the general public. Empirical evidence,
however, is contrary to the above.

I have long personally been an advocate of a concept known
as "exercise realism" -- in which the event may or may not
progress through all the emergency classes -- which may or
may not result in core damage -- which may or may not
result in releases of radioactive materials to the environment
-- and which may or may not require offsite protective
actions. We are working with one of our utilities now to set
up such a "realistic" exercise for the NRC/FEMA "off year" --
and the biggest concern is how to adequately demonstrate
certain portions of the emergency plan -- both onsite and
offsite.

Jim Hardeman, Manager
Environmental Radiation Program
Environmental Protection Division
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
4244 International Parkway, Suite 114
Atlanta, GA 30354
(404) 362-2675   fax: (404) 362-2653
Jim_Hardeman@mail.dnr.state.ga.us

>>> <sandy_perle@email.fpl.com> 04/08/96 08:37 >>>
   
I'd also like to emphasize a very important point that Regis
Greenwood made, that to exercise the governmental
agencies we ultimately release more radioactivity from the
plant that is feasibly or realistically possible. This gives the
false conclusion to the governmental agencies that this is a
real possibility, which it is not. Worse than that, we have to
play the game when dealing with the real media,
newspapers, TV and radio individuals that are in the
Emergency news Center, and they go away believing that the
scenario and results of radioactivity releases is in fact real.
THAT is the worse problem with emergency exercises. It is
an educational issue that needs to be continually stressed
with the media prior to and following a drill. Unfortunately, the
media is constantly changing, therefore the educational
needs must be met on a continual basis.