Radiological Drill - Success

The Exercise Is Complete

I mentioned earlier that I was involved in a large, biennial FEMA evaluation of the region around our local nuclear power plant.  I've found that every nuke plant in the country does indeed have this evaluation every other year.  The communities are evaluated looking at their decontamination plans, along with school and hospital responses.  Of course this is on top of other frequent exercises and drills regarding all aspects of plant operation and emergencies.

Over the past week, FEMA evaluated 48 schools, three Emergency Assembly Centers (that's where evacuees would go to be checked for radiation and decontaminated) and one hospital, across 7 or 8 cities and counties.

The preliminary reports indicate that all communities met the standards, and in many cases, exceeded them.  We'll come back together in mid-July for the final stage of the exercise where FEMA will look at a time-compressed start-to-finish plume escape from the plant, and how the Emergency Operations Centers in the local area and at the state level respond.

If there is a slowly expanding radiological emergency from our plant, I'm confident that loss of life will be minimal.  Unfortunately, some pretty heavy population centers might need to be evacuated for a long time, or even become uninhabitable.  It could also shut down the interstate, causing extreme disruption. 

If you live near a nuclear power plant, it is one more potential disaster that you need to look at including in your preparedness plans.  While a US nuclear plant disaster is pretty unlikely, if one does happen, it would be catastrophic.


Falling Skies

I missed this until just a few days ago, but a new post-Apocalyptic TV series premiers on TNT tonight.  Noah Wyle, of ER and The Librarian, stars as a college professor thrust into a leadership role in a band of survivors who have come together to resist an alien invasion that has devastated the Earth.  I've always been a fan of TEOTWAWKI fiction and movies, so I'm looking forward to watching this new show.


Sponsor Of The Week

The Sponsor of the Week is The Berkey Guy at Directive 21.  The Berkey Guy is your source for the amazing line of Berkey water filters.  Right now, all sizes are in stock and ready to ship except for the biggest size, the Crown Berkey, which will be available in August.  the Berkey Guy also has Wise Food Storage, survival food and herb seed banks, and now features the Pelican line of flashlights.  Check him out for great products and amazing customer service, and please tell him that you heard about him here at If It Hits The Fan.