By Associated Press
Decatur, AL – The director of Limestone County's Emergency Management Agency has urged federal officials to update 26-year-old radiological emergency response plans by requiring evacuation shelters to have alternate power sources. Spencer Black detailed his worries following an oversight panel meeting between the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Tennessee Valley Authority on progress toward restarting the Unit One reactor at T-V-A's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant near Athens. Black said it would cost about 50-thousand dollars to provide generators at Limestone County's four shelters. Black also called for state, federal and T-V-A help in funding backup power sources for outdoor sirens or an indoor system that would call residents to signal an emergency. During the meeting, T-V-A officials said progress on the Unit 1 reactor is on schedule to meet its restart deadline of May 2007. T-V-A shut down all three Browns Ferry reactors in 1985 because of safety concerns, but has since restarted Units Two and Three.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)