Key Issues

Emergency Preparedness

Every nuclear power plant in the country has a detailed plan for responding in the event of an emergency. Companies test that plan regularly, with the participation of local and state emergency response organizations.

Federal Emergency Preparedness Regulations

U.S. nuclear power plants are required by law to develop and test comprehensive on-site and off-site emergency response plans. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the state in which the plant is located review and approve these plans.

In addition, the NRC coordinates approval of these plans with the Federal Emergency Management Agency Radiological Emergency Preparedness Program. FEMA has the lead role in emergency planning beyond the nuclear plant site.

A nuclear power plant must have an approved emergency plan to maintain its NRC operating license. Each plant must conduct a full-scale emergency exercise every two years. These exercises are highly coordinated with federal, state and local emergency response organizations.

Fact sheet on emergency preparedness

Emergency Planning Zone

A multi-agency task force established the basis for a radiological emergency preparedness program in 1978. The task force identified a 10-mile emergency planning zone around each nuclear power plant as appropriate. It concluded that people living beyond that zone are not at risk from direct exposure to any radioactive material.

For a typical emergency planning zone, see the booklet “Nuclear Power Plant Emergency Preparedness: Protecting Our Neighbors in the Event of an Emergency.”

2008 White House Policy Decision on Potassium Iodide
Federal and state authorities have examined the potential role of potassium iodide—KI—in the event of a nuclear power plant event. Radioactive iodine could be released in a severe nuclear power plant accident. Potassium iodide, if taken within a specified period after exposure, can block the absorption of radioactive iodine by the thyroid gland. It does not protect any other part of the body against any other radioisotope. The primary protective actions within the 10-mile emergency planning zone are evacuation or sheltering, which protect the whole body from any type of radioactive exposure.

The federal government also has examined the potential value of making KI available to those who live between 10 and 20 miles from a nuclear power plant. The Public Health and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 states that the federal government will provide KI to state and local governments should they wish to distribute the compound in the area 10 to 20 miles from a nuclear power plant. The law also includes an option to waive the KI program if the federal government concludes there is a more effective way to protect the thyroid from radioactive iodine (see Sec. 127(f)).

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) invoked this waiver Jan. 22, 2008, saying interdiction of any contaminated food, along with consideration of evacuation and sheltering, are more effective protective measures to use in the very unlikely event that people beyond the 10-mile emergency planning zone could be exposed to radioactive iodine. OSTP said the probability of a release of radioactive iodine was not at issue, only the potential consequences. However, OSTP noted, “The risk of a severe release of radioactive iodine 10-20 miles from a [nuclear power plant] is on the order of one-in-a-million to one-in-ten-million."