Illinois needs to boost nuke safety

Daily Herald Editorial Board

First, a record earthquake, then a horrifying tsunami. Now, weeks after the disasters, the quite literal fallout of the Japanese nuclear power plant crisis has landed in Illinois.

Low levels of radioiodine 131 traced to the Japan crisis have been recorded near Morris in Will County, at Argonne National Laboratory near Darien and at O’Hare International Airport.

The levels are so low that no one should overreact. But those who operate and oversee nuclear power in Illinois should be reacting to the example playing out before us in Japan. They should be preparing for a similar crisis here.

U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk rightfully put a spotlight on the concerns at a hearing last week. State Sen. Susan Garrett of Lake Forest holds another focusing on the decommissioned Zion nuclear plant at 3 p.m. April 9 at the Lake Forest Health and Fitness Center, 1200 N. Westmoreland Drive.

“Illinois is the most nuclear state in the country. We have the largest fleet of 11 reactors,” Kirk, a Highland Park Republican, said, “and we need to make sure in light of what happened at Fukushima that they’re run safely.”

Nuclear plant officials tried to assure Kirk, Durbin and the public that Illinois’ plants are safe. But the hearing also seemed to make clear that the evacuation zones around six nuclear power plants need to be expanded and that we need a greater supply of potassium iodide pills so that as many of us can remain safe should an accident or attack occur.

Potassium iodide pills help prevent radiation-caused thyroid cancer. The Associated Press reported that Joseph Klinger, assistant director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, told the senators at the hearing there are about 180,000 residents in the evacuation zones around six of the state’s plants but a stockpile of only 175,000 pills. In Japan, the evacuation zone was broadened to a 19-mile radius around Fukushima, but the Illinois evacuation zones now are only 10 miles around the nuclear plants. The tragedy in Japan certainly also demonstrated that many people here and beyond our state borders would be at risk if the plants suffered a breach.

Cynthia Pederson, deputy regional administrator for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said Illinois’ reactors and spent fuel pools are “operating in a manner that protects public health and safety.”

Yet, it’s been noted repeatedly that four of the reactors, at Dresden near Morris and at the Quad Cities stations, are nearly identical to the ones at Fukushima. And they were given 20-year license extensions after exceeding their supposed 40-year life spans.

The Japan crisis is a sobering call to action just as was the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. We must heed the warning and respond swiftly. Not with panic, but with persistent purpose.