If there is ever a nuclear power plant accident at Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant, which is not likely said Emergency Management Director Christine McPherson, Pierce County is well-prepared to help citizens.

Local EMS, fire department personnel, public health and human services employees, Red Cross and the Healthcare Emergency Readiness Coalition attended a Reception Center drill at Elmwood High School Thursday, June 20.

“The purpose of the Reception Center is to register evacuees, monitor them for radiological contamination and decontaminate if necessary in the event of an emergency at the Prairie Island nuclear power plant,” McPherson said.

The Reception Center drill was held as part of the county’s biennial testing of its emergency response plans. The location, Elmwood High School, was chosen because its outside of the 10-mile radius surrounding Prairie Island yet still in Pierce.

The drill’s objective was to make sure that people understand the purpose and function of the Elmwood Reception Center and to ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills needed in the event of a nuclear power plant accident. The Reception Center provides:

• A predetermined located for evacuees
• A place for monitoring/decontaminating of evacuees and emergency workers
• Registering of evacuees (nationally there is an insurance program that will kick into effect)
• Vehicle monitoring and decontaminating.

A lot of people don’t live in that 10-mile radius; it’s mostly rural, Field Director Brad Jorgenson said. But they have to check those who respond to that area as well.

The reason Pierce County (in conjunction with Goodhue and Dakota counties, Federal Emergency Management Agency and the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin) has such a comprehensive emergency plan can be summed up with three words: Three Mile Island.

According to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Three Mile Island Unit 2 reactor near Middletown, Penn., partially melted down on March 28, 1979.

“This was the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history, although its small radioactive releases had no detectable health effects on plant workers or the public,” the website states. “Its aftermath brought about sweeping changes involving emergency response planning, reactor operator training, human factors engineering, radiation protection, and many other areas of nuclear power plant protections.”

McPherson said the incident, which lasted four days, was a complete public relations disaster from top to bottom.

“The plant had suffered a partial meltdown and people thought they knew better than the equipment,” McPherson said.

The plant failed to get the correct information out to the public, which caused incorrect headlines and widespread panic.

“The public information piece was probably the most critical,” McPherson said. “There was very little risk from the radiation itself. Everything from the notification to communicating with the media and the public is part of the plan that we have and a big part of what we practice and drill.”

Although the Reception Center drill takes place on one night (and is evaluated by FEMA representatives), in a real emergency, things wouldn’t happen that fast.

“It’s a way compressed timeline,” McPherson said. “More realistically, it would last four weeks.”

In 1979 after Three Mile, it was decided that 10 miles would be the emergency planning zone for surrounding municipalities, while the plant focuses on a two-mile zone. Residents are asked to fill out surveys annually, answering questions on population, evacuation times, new housing developments or businesses, and road construction.

“We included Highway 10 construction in our planning this year,” McPherson noted. “Most of Pierce County is in the 10-mile zone, and all of it is within the 50-mile zone. Pierce County would deal with the first four to six hours after an incident and focus on the Reception Center.”

There are four levels of emergency notifications, McPherson said. They are (from least to most serious):

• Notification of unusual event – A low level event which poses no threat to public safety but which warrants an increased awareness on part of the plant and off-site agency personnel.
• Alert – Also a low level condition which poses no threat to public safety, but precautionary mobilization of certain response functions is appropriate in case conditions degrade.
• Site area emergency – At this level, conditions have degraded to a point warranting the full activation of response functions. Precautionary protective actions for high risk portions of the general public might be recommended.
• General emergency – Conditions have degraded to a point threatening public safety and some form of protective actions will be initiated.

During the June 20 drill, FEMA evaluators took extensive notes on any variations from the expected activities and outcomes while keeping a strict timeline of events. After the exercise, the evaluators compiled notes into a written narrative that describes the capabilities demonstrated and any weaknesses in the ability to carry out expected actions.

“A training or drill allows us an opportunity to make adjustments to procedures,” McPherson said. “As a county, we’re being evaluated on our ability to follow the plan.”

Every year, the plant also has to demonstrate reasonable assurance that it can protect the public in the event of emergency, McPherson said. And all this planning is not cheap.

NSP/Xcel Energy directly reimburses Pierce County for all the direct costs related to the county’s Emergency Operations Center, which is located in the basement of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office at 555 W. Overlook Drive in Ellsworth. They paid for all the equipment in the EOC 100%. They also pay for 50% of McPherson’s salary and benefits and for 30% of Jorgenson’s.

“The county benefits because they pay for the siren control equipment in dispatch, extra training, equipment for Pierce County Sheriff’s Office for a SWAT situation. We wouldn’t have this if this wasn’t in the near area of a nuclear power plant.”

Xcel also pays for the sirens in the 10-mile zone, while other municipalities must pay to maintain their own. However, this will be changing soon.

“Sirens came out of the whole Three Mile Island idea,” McPherson said. “It was the best warning method back in the 1980s when there were no cell phones, no notifications. They are installed on the county’s right of way. There are 52 sirens in the 10-mile zone in Pierce, with 152 sirens total. They are tested year-round and weekly. You can track them all online.”

This antiquated technology is expensive and Xcel wants to abandon it, McPherson said. It costs Xcel $5,000 annually to maintain each siren in the 10-mile zone.

“Xcel is in the process of getting approval for that plan change,” McPherson said.

Instead, they are moving to the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS).

“For the purpose of the power plant, the state can send it (notifications) out. In Pierce County we can do it ourselves. Xcel pays for that also. And it would benefit the entire county,” McPherson said.

People can sign up for the notifications on the county’s website. The notifications can be issued not only for the nuclear power plant, but for Amber alerts, storms and more. IPAWS can make landline phone calls, while sirens blasting don’t tell people what they are for.  

“Sirens are outdoor warning systems. They are not supposed to be heard inside. They are meant to tell people to come inside and look for more information,” Jorgenson said.

Some people will love the elimination of the sirens while others won’t, McPherson admitted. She has been urging municipalities to maintain one or two, which would cost them less than $1,000 each per year for preventive maintenance. Currently, town of Trimbelle has eight.

“Prairie Island’s have to be held to a much higher system, so they can work during an extended power outage,” McPherson said of their higher cost.

She is hoping to build up the Pierce County Emergency Management Facebook page as a trusted source of information, along with the IPAWS notifications. She is pushing Prairie Island to do the same.

“I’m way more about opening things up to the public,” McPherson said. “The more we open up the less scary it is. The important thing to remember is, at Three Mile, nobody died and nobody got sick. There was no radiation sickness or poison. The chance of a Chernobyl ever happening here is so miniscule.”

To sign up for IPAWS notifications, go to https://www.co.pierce.wi.us/ and click on “Everbridge – Emergency Notifications.”