Preparing For The Real Thing
BY SUSAN USHER
Margaret Dennis stands calmly
just inside a locker room entrance at
the West Brunswick High School
gym, now a shelter for residents
evacuating homes and businesses
within a 10-mile radius of the
Brunswick Nuclear Plant. Running a
handheld counter over her clothing
tMT Ronnie Hayes checks for radi
ation.
Dennis follows a marked route
around the comer and into the de
contamination chamber. She re
emerges a few minutes later for an
other scan; a yellow dot sticker indi
cates she has showered. If "clean "
she II register at the shelter, wearing
a green dot; if not. a red dot and
she II go through the shower again.
A green dot; she's okay.
Dennis takes her place in line at a
registration table staffed by county
employees. Nearby another evacuee
becomes agitated; Deputy Shelton
Caison physically restrains the man,
then takes him away to calm down
and perhaps talk to a counselor from
Southeastern Mental Health Center.
If it had been a real emergency in
stead of CP&L's biennial readiness
an", Margaret Dennis would have
been required to strip, shower and
dress in fresh clothing provided by
the American Red Cross or
Salvation Army, while her contami
nated clothing was bagged and tag
ged for disposal.
Instead, Brunswick County Emer
gc"ty Management Coordinator
Cecil Logan's neighbor and always
willing "volunteer victim" walks
through the admission process. All
the while, state and federal evalua
tes watch every move made by
shelter staff members and frequently
stop the action to ask questions or
set up an interaction, look at their
watches and scribble notes.
At her place inside the "decon"
room, Shallotte volunteer firefighter
Sandy Roberts is almost unrecogniz
able, suited up in neon yellow pro
tective gear, thick gloves extending
up her arms and her face enclosed to
reduce exposure from handling con
taminated clothing.
In a hurricane evacuation, entire
families check into a shelter togeth
er, but not so in a nuclear event
evacuation. Males and females enter
separate shower areas and register at
different tables, and every person
must be signed in separately. Be
cause of evacuation routes, there's a
chance thai parents and their school
age children may register at different
snelters.
At West Brunswick, in a room
normally used for health occupation
classes, health department personnel
set up a first aid station. Other coun
ty workers start out to inventory the
food supply; the school cafeteria is
locked A 4,000-watt generator is
available to power emergency light
SHALLOTTE VOLUNTEER
Firefighter Sandy Roberts
waits for evacuees in the
women 's decontamination
room, where those entering the
shelter shed contaminated ap
parel, shower and don a
change of clothing.
ing. Volunteer "ham" radio opera
tors set up on-site to provide alter
nate communications.
County Manager Wyman Yelton
looks on and asks questions.
"This has involved a large part of
county government all day," he says.
"There are some things you don't
think about until the actual situa
tion." Case in point: the role of the
agricultural extension agency in no
tifying and working with fanners to
protect livestock from radiation ex
posure.
In the student parking lot outside
the gym, Chief Tim Carter and fel
low Shallotte volunteer firefighters
wash down vehicles in a second de
contamination area, using an aerial
truck and handheld hoses. For the
drill, a school bus and a car run
through, getting a all-over hosing
with water instead of the detergent
type chemicals that would be used in
a real emergency.
Tuesday's "emergency" began at
5:33 a.m. when Carolina Power &
Light reported an unusual event at
its Brunswick Nuclear Plant at
Southport. A problem with a reactor,
not expected to affect the public.
Then a small airplane crashes in
side the fenced security area at the
Brunswick
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plant. It doesn't hit any buildings,
but the site's security has been
breached, triggering a state of alert
and higher level of monitoring by
state and county officials. Still no
threat to the public. The pilot is
transported to Dosher Memorial
Hospital in Southport for treatment.
Meanwhile, inside the plant the
situation grows more serious, with a
steam leak identified in a reactor
building. CP&L declares a site area
emergency at 9:23 a.m.
At the county complex in Bolivia,
the Brunswick County Emergency
Operations Center is up and running,
involving personnel from most
county departments as they prepare
to set up traffic control points, open
shelters, protect the county's water
supply and whatever else may be
needed. The EOC activates the 34
sirens along the perimeter of a 10
mile radius of the plant to alert the
public to listen to local radio and
television stations for an Emergency
Broadcasting System (EBS) mes
sage notifying them of a potential
problem at the plant that could affect
their safety.
At 10:15 a.m. a simulated evacu
ation of schools within the 10-mile
radius occurs; in real life students
from South Brunswick Middle,
South Brunswick High and South
port Elementary schools would have
been transported by bus to North
Brunswick High School in Leland.
At 3:17 p.m. the situation at the
plant escalates to a "general emer
gency" and EBS broadcasts another
simulated message advising people
in affected areas to stay indoors or
evacuate, as appropriate. By 3:30
p.m. county personnel are on their
way to open shelters at the two
county high schools outside the
warning zone.
EBS messages and officers staf
fing traffic points advise Oak Island
residents and residents of the area
west of Boiling Spring Lakes to use
the West Brunswick High School
shelter, and direct residents of the
Southport and Boiling Spring Lakes
areas out N.C. 87 and N.C. 133 to
North Brunswick High School.
"It's gone well," Logan said as
the close of Tuesday's exercise ap
proached. "It's a learning experience
for us. There are some things we can
improve on; there's something new
with every drill. There's always new
technology we need to look at."
Areas for improvement next time
will include better communication
among members of the response
team, more delegation by I^ogan,
and the need for more participants to
assist in operating the EOC. "I had
one runner who was doing that and
handling the status board," said
Logan. "I needed two or three run
ners and someone full-time on the
status board."
Something new and improved this
year: A CP&L plant operator sta
tioned at the EOC to communicatc
directly with plant officials and to
translate technical information into
layman's terms.
CP&L hoids mandatory uiills
every year, and involves state and
county personnel every other year.
Typically Brunswick County coordi
nates response to the plant "emer
gency," consulting with the state
Office of Emergency Management
and CP&L Every six years Bruns
wick County turns over control of
the exercise at a certain point to the
state agency so that it can receive
credit for the exercise.
"In a real emergency," said Lo
gan, "we wouldn't hand over control
to the state unless it became some
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Highway 179
Shallotte, NC
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Wednesday,
November 16, 1994
9:30 am- i 1:30 am
OI??4 THE gnUNBWCK KACOM
CAROLYN LEWIS of the Shallotte Volunteer Rescue Squad scans
"evacuee" Margaret Dennis for radioactivity on her arrival at the
West Brunsw ick High School gym shelter.
thing wc couldn't handle " a formal review with state and feder
Participants held a brief internal al cvaluators was planned at 1:30
mini-critique in early aftermxm. and p m. Wednesday.
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