Issues in Emergency Planning for Nuclear Accidents: The Three Mile Island Context

Abstract

An extensive set of emergency plans for the area neighboring the nuclear power station at Three Mile Island (TMI) serves as a backdrop for an analysis of the issues attendant on emergency planning for nuclear accidents. A comprehen sive review of federal, state, local, and utility plans, reports on drills and exer cises, and the experiences of other states combines with field interviews and a survey of resources to describe the context for the TMI area. The paper pro ceeds to analyze the potential for further improvements in existing plans to effect a reduction in hazards posed to communities neighboring the TMI facil ity in particular and nuclear power in general. The overall analysis builds upon an earlier analysis of the problems attendant on the existing emergency-re sponse system. The authors propose remedies for the hazards identified in six distinct but interdependent issues: (1) mainstreaming, (2) readiness and per formance, (3) resources, (4) groupthink, (5) triage, and (6) flexible planning.

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