Expand Evacuation, Emergency Plans Around Indian Point, Study Urges

The Disaster Accountability Project issued a report this week that says local authorities need disaster planning that includes evacuating the 20 million people, living up to 50 miles out from the nuclear power plants at Indian Point, which includes Bergen County. 

The Disaster Accountability Project (DAP), founded in 2007 after Hurricane Katrina, works to save lives and reduce suffering after disasters by maximizing the impact of preparedness, response and relief. To that end the nonprofit offers independent oversight of disaster management systems.

This week, DAP released 5 simultaneous reports on evacuation plans for the Turkey Point nuclear power plant in Florida, the Salem nuclear generating plant in southern New Jersey, the Surrey power station in Virginia, the Dresden Generating Station in Illinois, and the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan.

DAP points out at the beginning of its report on Indian Point that when the Japanese authorities evacuated nearly 150,000 people located within 19 miles of the leaking Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended US citizens within 50 miles be evacuated—but later concluded that domestically, the traditional 10-mile limit was sufficient for emergency planning purposes.

The DAP report concludes that “Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania should not wait for the federal government to act. The states, counties, and cities within 50 miles of the Indian Point plant can and should voluntarily plan for emergencies beyond what is mandated by the federal government.”

Most of the jurisdictions that DAP sent requests to — for educational materials for the public; generic emergency plans; Indian Point emergency planning information; and evacuation time plans, including “shadow evacuation” estimates — didn’t have them.