Bill > H2031

This bill expands the safety preparedness radius around nuclear power plants from the current twenty miles to fifty miles, requiring the Department of Public Health to establish monitoring stations and stockpile thyroid-blocking agents within this larger area, which specifically includes cities and towns in Barnstable, Dukes, and Nantucket counties, as well as Cape Ann in Essex County. It also designates this fifty-mile radius as the "plume exposure pathway emergency planning zone," a term defined by federal regulations (44 C.F.R. section 350.2) that refers to the area where radioactive material released from a plant could pose an immediate health risk, and mandates that predetermined protective action plans, such as sheltering and evacuation procedures, be in place for this zone. The Department of Public Health is given 180 days to create the necessary rules and regulations to put these expanded protections into effect.