On Oct. 11, citizens and experts joined Maryland PIRG to hold a news conference overlooking the Thomas Johnson Memorial Bridge in Calvert County to expose weaknesses in the emergency evacuation strategy for the communities surrounding the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has reported that the current Calvert Cliffs’ reactors would pose significant threat to over 43,000 people in the event of a disaster. A new nuclear reactor in southern Maryland, as proposed by Constellation Energy, would put area residents at an even greater risk.
“How can we even think about building a third reactor when we can’t handle an emergency evacuation from two?” said Calvert County resident Bob Boxwell.
Flaws in the evacuation plan include transit bottlenecks, no siren back-up, and failure to take into account attrition of emergency responders.
“Terrorists are not known to target wind turbines,” said David Kosmos, Program Associate for Maryland PIRG. “Constellation Energy should turn its back on dangerous nuclear power and invest in safe, 21st-century technology that will lead us toward a smarter and safer energy future.”
TAKE ACTION • LEARN MORE
