AP IMPACT: New US plans delay some evacuations, cut practice for major nuclear plant accidents
Posted May 16, 2012 03:35:58 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
U.S. nuclear power regulators are requiring fewer exercises for major accidents and recommending that fewer people be evacuated right away.
The changes come in the first overhaul of the community readiness program since its creation after the Three Mile Island accident in 1979.
Communities will no longer have to run all exercises assuming a radioactive release.
A new exercise is being added, though. Local and state police will now practice for an attack on nearby nuclear plants.
These changes went into effect in December. While documented in obscure federal publications, the revamped rules received hardly any notice by the general public.
