Ned Birkey: Food supply is vital step in preparing for disasters
The past month was the biennial Fermi 2 nuclear power plant drills, simulating some kind of an incident and a radiation leak. The September 13 Wall Street Journal had an article by Mark Naida, “Our Friendly Neighborhood Nuclear Reactor” regarding Monroe community during the Enrico Fermi 1 partial meltdown and the community resolve and success of the current power plant.
Ironically the drills always involve Detroit and Wayne County but not Toledo or Ohio. However the David-Besse plant in Oak Harbor has had several incidents, including a football sized void in the reactor vessel head caused by corrosion and another incident with a loss of main and backup supplies of cooling water.
USDA has a Disaster Handbook, the version I have goes back to 1983 and covers numerous types of disasters, including floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, winter storms, fire protection and nuclear. Surprisingly it does not include earthquakes. The nuclear chapter has sections about a nuclear explosion, fallout, radiation, warning signals, a home shelter, livestock shelter, food and feed supplies, pasture and forage plants, gardens and produce, water and soil.
DTE also has an Emergency Preparedness booklet for people in Monroe and Wayne counties. It contains information that could be useful in the event of an emergency at the Fermi 2 nuclear energy facility. Anyone living within 10 miles of the facility hear a three-minute siren which is tested at 10 a.m. on the last Wednesday of each month. The siren is also used to warn of tornadoes and other weather emergencies.
At the Monroe County Emergency Operations Center on South Raisinville Road, agriculture has a seat and role in the protection of the food supply during a radiological emergency. The agriculture scenarios are largely based upon two real life incidents; Chernobyl and Hurricane Katrina.
Chernobyl occurred on April 26, 1986, with the wind blowing the radiation to northern Europe and Scandinavian countries. It was the worst disaster in the history of nuclear power generation. Fortunately at that time of the year livestock were still housed indoors, being fed stored feed and well water. However millions of acres of forest and farmland were contaminated, livestock were born deformed and humans suffered long term negative health effects.
Hurricane Katrina was a category 5 Atlantic hurricane that hit New Orleans on August 23, 2005 and ranks as the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, with over $125 billion in damages. About 1,800 people died some because they would not leave their homes and go to the shelter at the Super Dome or other shelters and leave their pets behind and alone. At that time, shelters were not equipped to handle family pets.
The DTE booklet has a six-page section for farmers, food and feed processors and distributors. This portion of the emergency preparedness booklet outlines plans to protect the food supply in the event of an emergency. Some good news is that in the event of an incident, the Price-Anderson Act, enacted by Congress in 1957, requires that the operators of nuclear power plants to pay claims promptly without lengthy court hearings.
Following an event, government officials may restrict the movement of food and products and withhold them from the marketplace if they are suspected to be contaminated. These products should not be released until they are considered to be safe for consumption, or until a decision has been made to dispose of them. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will provide instruction how to handle and dispose of contaminated food or feed products.
The Northeast power grid outage and blackout of August 14, 2003 that included Monroe County affected the food supply. This required inspection by MDARD officials of those stores and venues before they could re-open and sell refrigerated items. At the time, the list of local grocery stores, gas stations and other places that sold food was 11 pages long, single-spaced.
In my job and contract with the County of Monroe, food safety and food quality are issues that require the constant reminders to and attention of farmers and others involved in agriculture. The Fermi drills are just one reminder of the importance of a safe and nutritious food supply and clean water, soil and air.
Ned Birkey is MSU Extension Educator Emeritus and a regular contributor to The Monroe News.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Ned Birkey: Food supply is vital step in preparing for disasters
