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Congratulations to Rob Astorino, who won the county leadership position by a large margin. The new county executive has been a strong supporter of Indian Point, and in his unsuccessful bid for the office in 2005, he tried to convince residents that the Kensico Dam was a larger threat than Indian Point if terrorists attacked. That argument did not play well and Mr. Astorino lost. While these are different times, one thing is certain. The evacuation plan for Indian Point will not work if it is needed, and has unfixable shortcomings. Those were the findings of the 2003 Witt Report, and then-Gov. George Pataki publicly endorsed the report's findings. That is why since then, neither Westchester County nor the State of New York have certified the evacuation plan as workable; and that is also why the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been suggesting that "sheltering in place" rather than trying to evacuate is advised.

Congratulations to Rob Astorino, who won the county leadership position by a large margin. The new county executive has been a strong supporter of Indian Point, and in his unsuccessful bid for the office in 2005, he tried to convince residents that the Kensico Dam was a larger threat than Indian Point if terrorists attacked. That argument did not play well and Mr. Astorino lost. While these are different times, one thing is certain. The evacuation plan for Indian Point will not work if it is needed, and has unfixable shortcomings. Those were the findings of the 2003 Witt Report, and then-Gov. George Pataki publicly endorsed the report's findings. That is why since then, neither Westchester County nor the State of New York have certified the evacuation plan as workable; and that is also why the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been suggesting that "sheltering in place" rather than trying to evacuate is advised.

"MEXT has released more contamination level data that shows considerably high levels outside the 20km evacuation zone, mostly concentrated in a north west path. As data has been coming out recently the north west path has shown to have taken considerable fallout over the last six months. There were also soil samples taken, these showed levels outside the evacuation zone in 66 locations exceeded the evacuation threshold used in Chernobyl. Okuma is 30km from the plant and showed millions of becquerels on the soil sample tests. Namie and Iitate were showing high levels on the MEXT sampling information, both are outside the evacuation zone. Some of this area to the north and west had been evacuated, but there are still people in this northwest stretch that the government has not done anything to help."

Draft Report for Comment AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. [[Page 23220]] ACTION: Announcement of issuance for public comment, availability. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued for public comment a document entitled: NUREG/CR-XXXX, ``Criteria for Development of Evacuation Time Estimate Studies.'' The Evacuation Time Estimate (ETE) is a calculation of the time to evacuate the plume exposure pathway emergency planning zone (EPZ), an area with a radius of about 10 miles around a nuclear power plant (NPP). The ETE is primarily used to inform protective action decisions during NPP radiological emergencies and may be used to assist in the development of traffic management plans to support an evacuation. This document is an acceptable template for use by NPP licensees to meet NRC requirements for the development of ETE studies. It also provides guidance for the update and review of ETEs. The format and criteria provided in this document will support consistent application of ETE methodology and will facilitate consistent NRC review of ETE studies.

Chronology of events surrounding crippled Fukushima nuclear plant A school building, which was submerged as a result of a tsunami on March 11, stands in an area of Yamamoto, Miyagi Prefecture. (Mainichi) TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The following is a chronology of events regarding the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in Fukushima Prefecture, triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern and eastern Japan. March 11 -- Magnitude 9.0 earthquake forces power plant's Nos. 1-3 reactors to suspend operations automatically (Nos. 4-6 reactors were shut down, undergoing regular checks). Prime Minister Kan declares nuclear emergency, directing local residents in 3-kilometer radius of plant to evacuate. March 12 -- Kan inspects stricken plant. Radioactive steam is vented from No. 1 reactor's containment vessel. Hydrogen explosion rips No. 1 reactor building. Government expands evacuation zone to 20 km radius of plant. March 14 -- Hydrogen explosion rocks No. 3 reactor building. No. 2 reactor's fuel rods are exposed as water recedes inside reactor vessel. March 15 -- Kan scolds Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) officials at company head office. Explosion is heard near suppression chamber of No. 2 reactor's containment vessel. Explosion is also heard at No. 4 reactor. Government directs residents in 20-30-km ring of plant to stay indoors. A tsunami crests the embankment of the Heikawa River in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, before sweeping into the city on March 11. (Mainichi) March 16 -- Damage is feared to have been done to No. 3 reactor's containment vessel, forcing workers to retreat. March 17 -- Ground Self-Defense Force helicopters drop water on No. 3 reactor building. Fire engines spray water from ground. March 18 -- Nuclear safety agency gives crisis involving Nos. 1-3 reactors preliminary value of Level 5 on nuclear accident scale of 7. March 19 -- Tokyo firefighters spray water at No. 3 reactor. Government announces detecti

"The levels of radiation accumulated in soil near the crippled nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan far exceeded the level of radiation the then-Soviet Union had used as a criterion for urging people to evacuate at the time of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, threatening to plague local residents for a lengthy period. Using aircraft, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology checked the cesium-137 (half life of about 30 years) and cesium-134 (half life of about two years) accumulated in soil in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy in April. Cesium-137 that has longer effects, ranging from 3 million to 14.7 million becquerels per square meter, was detected in Namie, Futaba, Minamisoma, Iitate and Katsurao, northwest of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, in Fukushima Prefecture. The levels far exceeded 550,000 bacquerels per square meter, the level the then-Soviet Union had used as a criterion for urging people to evacuate at the time of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Based on recommendations from the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), the Japanese government used 20 millisieverts per year of radiation in the atmosphere as the criterion to designate evacuation areas in the wake of the nuclear accident in Fukushima. Therefore, there are areas that have not been designated as evacuation zones although they have larger amounts of accumulated radiation. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology says, "Radioactive substances in soil do not enter human bodies immediately." On the other hand, when authorities try to decide whether to allow local residents to return to their homes or resume farming, levels of soil contamination could be one of the hot topics of debate."

"IITATE, Fukushima -- Local residents here have started leaving their homes as their entire village fell under recently expanded evacuation areas near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, but it remains unclear when or whether they can come back here again. Tatsuya Aoki, a 37-year-old father of three, decided to evacuate to Hiroshima voluntarily. "I want to stay far away from this village for the sake of my children's health," he said, adding that he had no intention of returning to the area again. After sending off the villagers, Iitate Mayor Norio Kanno told reporters, "I don't want the village to turn into a ghost town. I will take all possible measures to prevent that." But the question remains as to how many residents will actually return to the village when the evacuation order is lifted. Citing the case of a sharp drop in the population of Yamakoshi village in Niigata Prefecture in the wake of the 2004 Chuetsu earthquakes, Kanno said, "We want to have about 70 to 80 percent of the villagers or even more come back here." But the villagers are troubled by anxiety and insecurity."

he government on Monday expanded evacuation areas around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant beyond a 20-kilometer radius from the plant, as cumulative radiation levels have become high in wider areas. People living in the newly designated municipalities -- Katsurao, Namie, Iitate, part of Kawamata and part of Minamisoma -- will be asked to evacuate within one month, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference. At present, those who live in the 20-km range must evacuate while those in the 20-30 km radius are asked to stay indoors.

DEP and State Police discuss status of plan TOMS RIVER - Despite assurances by representatives of the State Police Office of Emergency Management, not everyone at a public hearing Tuesday night was convinced that a radiological emergency evacuation plan could be safely implemented. State Department of Environmental Protection officials and representatives of the State Police discussed the status of the evacuation plan during an annual public hearing that followed a one-hour informal session concerning what would happen if a nuclear incident occurred at Oyster Creek Generating Station in the Forked River section of Lacey. Jill Lipoti, DEP director of environmental safety and health, served as hearing officer for the proceeding. A number of booklets and fact sheets were on hand for residents to review.

About half of those who are staying at evacuation shelters after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami have been left with no means to support themselves, a Mainichi survey has revealed. Around two-thirds of respondents said they have no place to stay if they leave makeshift shelters while it is difficult for nearly 60 percent of them to rebuild and repair their damaged homes. The survey was conducted between April 5 and 9 on a total of 100 individuals sheltering at evacuation centers in Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima and other prefectures. Those polled had lost their homes in last month's Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami or left their hometowns in the wake of radiation leaks from the disaster-crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima Prefecture. The respondents included 40 evacuees in Iwate Prefecture, 30 in Miyagi Prefecture, 20 in Fukushima Prefecture and 10 others who have evacuated from areas near the damaged nuclear facility to refugee shelters outside the prefecture.

"The emergency evacuation preparation zone between 20 and 30 kilometers from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant may be scrapped by the end of next month, it was learned Thursday. The government will soon set preconditions for eliminating the zone and start discussions with local governments, as the Step 1 phase to stably cool the plant's reactors has been generally achieved by the mid-July target in Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s timetable for bringing the troubled plant under control. People in the two sections of the emergency evacuation preparation zone have been asked by the government to make preparations to evacuate or stay indoors in the event of an emergency. Many residents in the zone already have left."

Federal regulators are investigating the cause of radiation exposure that forced the evacuation of 25 workers at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Officials say the unsafe levels of radiation were released on Monday after the top of the reactor vessel was placed too close to a fan as workers prepared to refuel the plant. Advertisement Entergy Nuclear spokesman Robert Williams said the workers were evacuated from the top floor of the reactor building for four hours, inspected for contamination and later went back to work.

"he government is aiming to lift by the end of September its advisory for residents living in areas outside the 20-kilometer zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that have been designated for evacuation in the event of an emergency, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Tuesday. The move came after five municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture, all or parts of which are designated as emergency evacuation preparation zones in the 20- to 30-km ring from the power station, had submitted to the central government by Tuesday their "recovery plans," a precondition for lifting the advisory."

Nuclear power plants must provide updated estimates of how long it would take to evacuate nearby communities in an emergency under a new rule approved Tuesday by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Tweet 1 person Tweeted this ShareThis Plant operators would have to update their evacuation estimates after every 10-year census, or when changes in population would increase the estimated time by at least 30 minutes. The requirement was among several changes regulators approved regarding emergency preparedness. The changes came as the commission considered sweeping safety changes for the U.S. nuclear industry in response to the nuclear crisis in Japan.

Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA) yesterday in Abuja said it had evacuated three high-risk radioactive sources from the country. Director-general, Prof. Shamsideen Elegba, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the evacuation was carried out in conjunction with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

An accident that caused a fire in a truck carrying hazardous material briefly forced the evacuation of about 100 people in and around the Summers County community of Sandstone. Emergency dispatchers say the truck was involved in a crash with another vehicle early Sunday morning. State Police say the truck was carrying a container with about 32,000 pounds of the radioactive chemical compound called Uranium hexafluoride. After crews found the material's container to be undamaged, residents evacuated to Summers County Middle School were allowed to return to their homes. Dispatchers say no one was seriously injured in the crash.

The fate of Japan's Fukushima prefecture, where hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated, appears to lie somewhere between the outcomes at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. There were no evacuations during the Three Mile Island accident, which released about 50,000 curies of radioactive gas. Today you can picnic outside the gates of the plant without fear of lingering radiation. Chernobyl, by comparison, was a nuclear volcano, churning millions of curies of radiation into the sky. Twenty-five years later, only official workers are allowed within 30 kilometers of the entombed reactor at Chernobyl, and radiation levels inside the zone exceed normal background radiation by factors of 100.

"BUCHANAN - As America's nuclear power plants have aged, the once-rural areas around them have become far more crowded and much more difficult to evacuate. Yet government and industry have paid little heed, even as plants are running at higher power and posing more danger in the event of an accident, an Associated Press investigation has found. Populations around the facilities have swelled as much as 41/2 times since 1980, a computer-assisted population analysis shows. But some estimates of evacuation times have not been updated in decades, even as the population has increased more than ever imagined. Emergency plans would direct residents to flee on antiquated, two-lane roads that clog hopelessly at rush hour."

A Monday morning fire at the Y-12 National Security Complex resulted in the evacuation of 95 employees, including two who were taken to Y-12 Occupational Health Services and released. "Emergency response personnel at the Y-12 National Security Complex are responding to a fire at the Oak Ridge facility," stated a 10:24 a.m. e-mail from the Y-12 Site Office.

More than 120 workers evacuated a nuclear power plant in southern France on Tuesday after an alarm was set off, the nuclear safety authority said. Plant owner EDF (EDF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) said the alarm was triggered accidentally but the safety authority ASN said it would await an independent examination before making any conclusions.

A program assistant who helps plan evacuation protocols near the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor is among the 320 state workers identified in the Douglas administration's reduction-in-force plan. Gov. James Douglas says the layoffs are needed to save $17 million in General Fund expenses. However, the radiological-preparedness position held by Jaclyn Harman - one of two state workers identified for potential elimination at the Department of Public Safety's 21-person Vermont Emergency Management division - is paid for entirely from a special reserve funded by the owners of the nuclear plant. Public Safety Commissioner Thomas Tremblay confirmed Wednesday that Harman's position is on the department's potential cut list, but he stressed that no final decisions have been made. The elimination of that position, if it happens, he said, would in no way threaten the safety of people living near the 500-megawatt power plant in Vernon.