Letters

摘要

I read with interest the article "Making Emergency Planning Zones Smarter," in the April 2021 issue of Nuclear News (p. 51). I worked in radiological emergency preparedness (REP) for some 20 years, starting in June 1979 with the State of Michigan and, later, for Detroit Edison and the State of Illinois. I was surprised that the authors never mentioned that not all EPZs were of 10 and 50 miles, even in 1980. The smaller reactors, such as at Big Rock Point and La Crosse, and the gas-cooled reactor at Fort St. Vrain, all had five-mile plume EPZs and 30-mile ingestion EPZs. Thus, there was a somewhat risk-informed approach even then. There was also a move by Calvert Cliffs in 1986 to reduce the size of its EPZ based on a plant-specific analysis of off-site radiological consequences for severe core damage accidents.