Minutes - 20020502 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Dr. Lyman: As I said in my talk, there is a requirement that there has to be some protections against truck bombs at nuclear plants. But one of the measures that the NRC imposed in February that nuclear plants are supposed to comply with had to do with doing new analyses of the potential impacts of truck bombs, and it is classified information what exactly those analyses entail. But what we do know is that almost 75% of the plants who were asked to do this said that they did not have enough information within 20 days to give the NRC a schedule on how they were going to figure this out and do what was necessary to be done within six months. So that means that there are big gaps in the information based on how the vulnerabilities of plants today to certain types of truck bombs, which the NRC is worried about. So there is a gap right now, which has not been closed. Mayor Foy: We are going to call this to a close pretty soon. I'm going to have one more question, and ask everyone else who has a question, please fill out one of these orange forms and the answer will be provided in the summary. If you include your name and address, then the summary will be mailed to you. So, thank you for your questions, and we will have one final question. Question: I live in Apex, so I live within the ten-mile radius of the plant. There is one issue that I have not heard discussed very much this evening. I have been online for a long time looking at Chernobyl and the effects of Chernobyl afterwards, especially the Chernobyl Children's Project, where they indicate that children in Belarus and the Ukraine, etc. are suffering from thyroid cancer at rates that are astronomical. And that is a product of the release of iodide 131. The FDA and the United States recommends potassium iodide in the event of some exposure to iodide 131. The NRC recommends that. We have lots of incidences of that. I'm questioning why I have not heard a lot of information. I mean, you have talked about prompt fatalities and first responders, but the lingering effects of exposure in children especially are incredible. The question is why are we not hearing more about the potential effect on children of these kinds of things?Why are we not talking about emergency planning with regard to children in the ten-mile radius that might be affected yet are not being offered potassium iodide? Dr. Wing: I would note that you are right, there is an incredible rate of thyroid cancer and thyroid disease in children in the area affected by Chernobyl fallout. It is my understanding, and I would defer to the engineers here, that the primary scenario where the radio-iodide would be in a reactor meltdown, or a reactor, not in a fuel pool fire, such has been the main focus here, where the cesium 137 is the primary contaminant of concern. But you are very right and there have been proposals to make iodide available for the local population and it is my understanding that our elected officials in the area have chosen not to pursue that path and make it available. Mr. Lochbaum: One of the things that Bob Alvarez mentioned earlier was this legislation before the Senate that calls for a number of things. One of the things it calls for that he did not mention is potassium iodide stockpiling, not make it an option anymore, make it a requirement. So we are hopeful that that legislation will pass for all of the things that Bob said plus the potassium iodide stockpiling thing. Dr. Alvarez: It is something that is now in the Environmental and Public Works Committee of the United States Senate and there have been no hearings scheduled for it. The other co-sponsors from North Carolina and other states are conspicuous by their absence. So I think we have an uphill struggle with this legislation, but it is there and it is something that we should focus our energies on.