Several years ago, I wrote a blog post about the dangers of flooding of nuclear reactors. At that time, I mentioned that there were 20 commercial nuclear power reactors in the U.S. that were downstream of dams that were failing with leaks and cracks. If any of those dams broke, they might flood a downstream nuclear reactor and create a nuclear disaster.
Beyond Nuclear is an anti-nuclear advocacy group. Last Friday, they demanded that U.S. nuclear plants invest in mitigation strategies for potential nuclear disasters after the catastrophic flooding in Michigan over last week threatened to inundate a nuclear reactor at the Dow Chemicals Midland County facility. Paul Gunter is the Beyond Nuclear Reactor Oversight Project director. He issued a statement that said, “The prospect of a nuclear disaster prompting a mass evacuation during a viral pandemic reinforces the need for an energy policy focused on safe, clean and affordable renewable energy.”
Dam failures along the Tittabawassee River led to water flowing towards Midland and the Dow Chemical plant that is located inside the city. Dow Chemical plant officials notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) last Wednesday about an “unusual event” at the plant as is required by NRC regulations. The officials said that their nuclear reactor had not sustained any damage during the recent flooding.
Gunter said that the combination of the flood, the possibility of damage to the nuclear reactor at the Dow site and the coronavirus outbreak made it very clear that federal, state and local authorities need to have better strategies to deal with such compounded threats in this age of climate change and pandemics. He said, "The Michigan flooding has forced the relocation of thousands of citizens from their stay-at-home shelters into the social distancing challenges of mass shelters. Evacuating tens of thousands from a radioactive cloud to mass shelters, as is presently planned during a nuclear emergency, raises difficult if not impossible choices under pandemic conditions.”
Beyond Nuclear pointed to two actions that regulators around the U.S. should take immediately to reduce risks. The first suggestion is for the NRC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to conduct a “Disaster Initiated Report” as mandated by the Memorandum of Understanding on the adequacy of offsite radiological emergency plans during the pandemic. The second suggestion was that federal and state response plans should be supported by the immediate pre-distribution of potassium iodide tablets by direct deliver to every person living within a ten-mile radius of U.S. nuclear power plants before any accidents occur. This is also the recommendation of disaster medicine experts from the American Thyroid Association.
Gunther said that the ultimate goal of our society should be to release the nation from the threat of nuclear meltdowns by ending the U.S. atomic energy industry completely and quickly. “It's time to remove the added and unnecessary danger presented by the 95 nuclear reactors still operating in the US today, and transition to a rapid phaseout before a nuclear emergency during a pandemic becomes a nightmarish reality.”