Schuylkill County may not have to worry about radiation leaks from nuclear power plants, but the Schuylkill County Emergency Management Agency plays a major role in evacuation plans as two surrounding counties have nuclear plants.
"We anticipate 3,000 evacuees," John M. Matz, SCEMA coordinator, said.
In the event of a nuclear disaster, Matz said people within a 10-mile radius of the plant would be required to evacuate.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 5 million people live within 10 miles of a nuclear plant in the United States, with 92,977 people living within 10 miles of the Susquehanna plant and 147,640 people within 10 miles of the Three Mile Island plant.
Matz said Schuylkill County serves as a support county for Luzerne and Dauphin counties. The Susquehanna Steam Electric Nuclear Station is located in Berwick, Luzerne County, and the Three Mile Island plant is near Harrisburg, Dauphin County.
Matz said support counties are responsible for providing mass care sites, a reception center and several decontamination centers. He said all publicly funded schools and universities are required to cooperate and are used for such centers and housing.
Matz said emergency responders are trained annually to be able to set up and maintain the centers. He said SCEMA participates in four training exercises throughout the year. He said they recently participated in an exercise last week with another one scheduled this week. He said there will be federally sponsored training in October.
During the exercises, Matz said the equipment is used and surveyed as part of a "refresher" program for emergency responders.
SCEMA recently applied for an annual $13,000 grant to develop and maintain the emergency response plans. Matz said emergency plans are continuously updated as they always find things that need to be improved. However, he said this year there is going to be a full rewrite of the plans using clearer phrases.
Public alert notification sirens for power plants are tested throughout the year. Matz said SCEMA routinely participates in the emergency preparedness exercises with many other emergency response services, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, county emergency management agency, PPL officials and the American Red Cross.
When an alert is given, Matz said it is up to the emergency response coordinators to gather all the information and notify the state and surrounding counties.
Nuclear energy is produced from nuclear fission, converting water to steam and powering generators to create electricity.
According to an annual report by the U.S. Energy Information Agency, Pennsylvania ranks second in nuclear power production for the nation, with capacity of 9.540 gigawatts and generating 77.828 gigawatts hours of electricity, as of April 26. With nuclear power plants operating in most of the states, they provide about 20 percent of the nation's power.
