Commissioners hear request

By Melanie McGee
Yates Center News – August 8, 2013
Submitted by Newz Group Clipping Service – September 12, 2013
Woodson County could be the newest site of a Reception and Care Center in case of a nuclear emergency at Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation’s plant in Coffey County, if enough workers can be found to staff the center when needed.
Woodson County Commissioners heard a presentation from Russel Stukey of Coffey County Emergency Management and Woodson County Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Scott Wiltse during their August 6 meeting. Stukey and Wiltse are interested in setting up a Reception and Care Center in Yates Center if a nuclear emergency occurred at the Wolf Creek nuclear plant north of Burlington. The proposed site would be the Woodson County Rural Fire Department building on U.S. 54.
“We’re looking to add another reception and care center if we have to evacuate people,” Stukey said. “We would need to send people down U.S. 75 to Yates Center and check them for radiation, get their contact information and make sure they have somewhere to stay if they need it.”
The likelihood of a nuclear emergency is extremely low because of safeguards that are already in place at Wolf Creek, Stukey said. “Stuff will start going wrong in the plant four or five days in advance, so we’ll be able to evacuate early and get people out before there is a release of radiation,” he added.
Woodson County’s role would simply be to provide a building where evacuees could be screened for radiation and decontaminated if necessary. “There would be no expense for Woodson County and it would most likely be a positive,” Stukey said.
Wiltse agreed, adding that the yearly training for reception and care center workers would satisfy some state emergency preparedness requirements without requiring a significant time commitment. Stukey told commissioners that at other reception and care centers, most of the workers are local firefighters, health department nurses and county employees.
Woodson County Rural Fire Chief Nick Barney said, “I’ll ask the question my guys will ask. How much time is this going to take? My guys have a hard enough time getting to training already.”
Stukey told him that for the first year or two, workers would need to commit to two or three evenings of training, but after that, each person would need to attend one refresher training session each year. “The first year, you really need two or three nights to get everyone up to speed,” he said.
That training would also prepare workers for other disasters, Stukey said. “FEMA says that when they go somewhere with a nuclear plant for another disaster, things run a lot more smoothly because they do so much more training than other places.”
Barney asked about the potential of contaminating the fire department’s building and the workers by bringing in evacuees who were exposed to radiation. Stukey provided him with a few figures to ease that concern. “The worst case scenario would have workers exposed to 4 mg of radiation,” he said. “A chest x-ray exposes you to 10 mg, a dental x-ray to 2 mg and a flight from New York to Los Angeles exposes you to 4 mg of radiation. With a concrete floor, you can hose it down, mop it and cleanup is easy. We also have textured plastic we can roll out to cover any carpeted areas.”
Commissioners told Stukey they would be willing to host a reception and care center, as long as the department heads affected by it agreed. “We’re going to back our department heads,” Yoho said.
Barney told commissioners he would take the information to the next fire department meeting and present it there. “I like to put things in front of my guys and see what they think,” he said.