A new government report challenges a pillar of planning for disasters at American nuclear power plants, finding that people living beyond the official 10-mile evacuation zone might be so frightened by the prospect of spreading radiation that they would flee of their own accord, clog roads, and delay the escape of others.For more than 30 years, community readiness has been based on the belief that evacuation planning isn’t needed beyond 10 miles from nuclear sites. But the Government Accountability Office report — to be released later Wednesday but obtained in advance by The Associated Press — found that regulators have never properly studied how many people beyond 10 miles would make their own decisions to take flight, prompting what is called a “shadow evacuation.”
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=90239