dick0645

DAMS AS WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION The slopes near dam abutments can be destroyed by different kinds of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Once the ground near the dam structure swells after detonation of an IED, the water behind the dam will forcefully collapse even a concrete dam in minutes and will wash away everything on its way downstream. Even more vulnerable are earthen dams such as those on the Missouri River. ...more »

An aircraft crash at a nuclear power plant site may have devastating consequences. FEMA needs to require plants to periodically conduct exercises involving an aircraft crash into a spent fuel pool at a nuclear plant site. Background information that I have already submitted to the NRC follows. Other countries with nuclear plants have dealt responsibly with high level waste by safely storing spent, but still highly radioactive, ...more »

FEMA INAPPROPRIATELY RELAXING NUCLEAR POWER PLANT EMERGENCY EXERCISE REQUIREMENTS At a time when emergency planning requirements should be strengthened FEMA has relaxed a couple key ones. FEMA now only requires states within the 50-mile Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) of a nuclear plant site to exercise the ingestion pathway at least once every 8 years. Formerly the requirement was at least once every 5 years. In light ...more »

DAM BREACH SCENARIO NEEDED Did the emergency preparedness exercise conducted at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station involve a catastrophic flooding accident? I would guess not even though the plant itself was subjected to historic Missouri River flooding just a couple of years ago. As I understand it, post 9/11, FEMA has required that hostile action scenarios be included as part of scheduled nuclear power plant emergency exercises. ...more »