i-Nuclear Update: US NRC will review evacuation zone expansion, but separate from Fukushima review

i-NUCLEAR

US NRC will review evacuation zone expansion, but separate from Fukushima review by I-Nuclear One of the most controversial proposals to follow the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant accident – expanding emergency planning zones around US reactors – will not be incorporated into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s ongoing review and implementation of post-Fukushima fixes, an agency official said May 3. It will be dealt with separately, according to Kevin Williams NRC branch chief for the division of preparedness. The Nuclear Information and Resource Service, and 37 co-petitioners, have filed a petition for rulemaking with the NRC to expand emergency evacuation zones and improve emergency response planning around U.S. nuclear reactors. The NRC this week published the petition for rulemaking – PRM 50-104 -- for public comment. Comments are due by July 16. In its petition, NIRS and the co-petitioners have asked the NRC to amend its rules under 10 C.F.R. 50.47(c)(2) to create a three-tiered emergency planning zone. The proposal would expand the current 10 mile EPZ to include an area within a 25-mile radius of a reactor site, establish an emergency evacuation zone of a 50-mile radius within a reactor site, and expand the radius of the ingestion pathway to a 100-mile radius within a reactor site.

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