Harris Nuclear Plant Safety Brochure

Harris Nuclear Plant 2014 Emergency Planning Keep this brochure in your car, your home or a handy place so that you will have the information in an emergency. Para recibir una copia de esta información en español, por favor llene sus datos y devuelva la tarjeta adjunta. Table of Contents Emergency Numbers . 16, 18 Your Safety Is Important to Us . 2 Generation . 2 Classification of Emergencies . .2 Dear Neighbor: Safety and Security . 3 At the Harris Nuclear Plant, we are committed to delivering electricity safely, reliably and Radiation . .3 cost-effectively. We live and work in your community, and our skilled, highly trained team Types of Radiation . 3 is dedicated to making sure the plant operates safely – for you and your family. Since the merger with Progress Energy in 2012, Duke Energy is now the nation’s largest Sources of Radiation Exposure . 3 utility, with a diverse mix of generation sources, including nuclear, coal-, oil- and natural Public Notification . .4 gas-fired and hydroelectric power plants. Tone Alert Radios . .4 As demand for energy steadily increases, nuclear energy will continue to play a vital role in meeting the needs of our 7.2 million customers. And, with zero-carbon emissions, it is Radio Tests . .4 an important clean energy resource for the future. Siren Tests . 5 For more than 40 years, Duke Energy has safely operated our nuclear fleet, which now includes six nuclear plants (11 generating units) in the Carolinas. To ensure our plans, 2014 Test Dates . 5 equipment and personnel are prepared in the unlikely event of an emergency, we conduct practice drills throughout the year and work closely with emergency management officials Taking Shelter . 5 from local, state and federal agencies. Potassium Iodide . .5 As the Harris Nuclear Plant vice president, I am proud of the commitment we make to deliver safe, reliable and affordable electricity every day. In 2013, our workers logged Evacuation Procedures . 6 more than 2.2 million hours without injury while operating the plant 24 hours a day, What you should do . 6 seven days a week. In addition to providing safe electricity to our neighbors, our As you evacuate . .6 employees support our local community by organizing school supply donations, volunteering for Adopt-A-Highway and providing holiday cheer for families in need each Functional Needs . .6 December. Being a good neighbor is one of our top priorities. Agricultural Information . 6-7 As someone living within 10 miles of Harris, your safety, welfare and confidence in all we do is especially important to us. I encourage you to review the information in this Pets at Shelters . 7 brochure and familiarize yourself with its contents. For More Information . .7 Further emergency planning information can be found on Duke Energy’s website at duke-energy.com/emergency-preparedness. Additional information and insight on nuclear Relocation Schools for Licensed energy can be found at the Nuclear Information Center (nuclear.duke-energy.com). Child Care Centers and Schools . .8 Thank you for your continued support of Harris Nuclear Plant, and best wishes for a Map of the 10-Mile Area happy and successful 2014. Around the Harris Nuclear Plant ...9 Map of Reception Centers . 10 Your Quick Reference Safety Information . 10 Relocation School Ernie Kapopoulos Location Information . 11 Site Vice President, Harris Nuclear Plant Evacuation Routes and Shelters . 12-15 Calendar . 16-17 1 Classification of Your Safety Is Important to Us Emergencies This brochure gives basic information on radiation and information on what to do if there The NRC defines four different is an emergency at the Harris Nuclear Plant in New Hill. State and county officials and classifications of emergencies that Duke Energy Progress want you to be prepared so that you and your family would know could occur at a nuclear power plant. what to do in an emergency. These classifications help state and county officials, as well as plant The Harris Nuclear Plant has multiple backup safety systems, so a serious emergency is personnel, determine how they will unlikely to occur. Plant operations are conducted under strict safety rules and are respond. Duke Energy Progress would monitored by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), a federal agency that regulates contact federal, state and local the nuclear industry in the United States. As part of regulatory requirements, emergency authorities in each of the following exercises are conducted every other year with plant personnel and state and county situations: officials participating. This brochure is part of the comprehensive emergency plans developed by the state of North Carolina, Chatham, Harnett, Lee and Wake counties and Unusual Event Duke Energy Progress. This is the least serious of the four Be sure you understand the information in this brochure so you and your family will be emergency classifications. It means prepared in the unlikely event of an emergency. Discuss this material with family members there is a minor problem or a potential and friends. problem at the plant. There is no danger to the public and no public If you know someone who cannot read or is visually impaired, please read this information action is necessary. to them and make sure they understand it. Alert This is an event that could reduce the level of safety at the plant. There is still no danger to the public. State, water vapor county and Duke Energy Progress officials would prepare their emergency centers and possibly activate these cooling tower centers to support changes in the situation. containment building steam generators Site Area Emergency control rods steam lines warm water turbine inlet This event may involve major problems generator with plant systems and could reduce the level of safety of the plant. Emergency sirens may sound to alert transformer pump cold water basin the public to listen to local radio and uranium fuel condenser Harris Lake television stations for information and pump instructions. reactor vessel cooling water General Emergency This is the most serious event that Generation could occur at the plant. There may be a release of radioactivity associated • Nuclear plants are similar to other types of power plants. High-pressure steam turns with the event. State and county propeller-like blades of a turbine, causing the shaft of a huge generator to spin. Inside officials would take action to protect the generator, coils of wire and magnetic fields interact to create electricity. the public. Sirens would be sounded and local radio and television stations • Nothing is burned in a nuclear reactor. Uranium fuel generates heat through fission. would provide instructions to people Atomic particles called neutrons strike a uranium atom, causing the atom to split living in the affected areas. Those (fission). When the atom splits, tremendous heat is generated and more neutrons are affected may be told to stay inside, released, triggering more fission and producing a chain reaction. shelter in place, evacuate the area and/or take potassium iodine (KI). • The fuel is a solid pellet the diameter of a piece of chalk and about one-half inch long. These pellets are stacked inside long vertical tubes inside the reactor. • The nuclear reaction can be controlled by inserting special rods among the fuel tubes. These control rods absorb free neutrons, preventing them from hitting the uranium atoms and causing fission. These rods can be dropped into the fuel either manually or automatically if needed. For more information on nuclear power, visit duke-energy.com/power-plants/nuclear.asp. 2 Safety and Security • Nuclear plants are built with multiple layers of safety systems and structures designed to protect both the plant and the community. Our safety systems have separate, multiple backup systems to provide additional protection and reliability. • Containment buildings are reinforced concrete and steel structures that can withstand tremendous forces such as hurricanes, tornadoes and even earthquakes. • Nuclear plants are among the most secure industrial facilities in the world. Each facility has a specially trained and equipped security force that monitors and controls access to the plant 24 hours a day. • Duke Energy Progress operates the Harris Nuclear Plant with uncompromising safety guidelines monitored by our own stringent internal programs, as well as industry and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) guidelines. Radiation Types of Radiation We are constantly exposed to radiation from our natural environment. This is called There are three types of radiation: background radiation. Sources of background radiation include the sun, the air we breathe, soil, plants, building materials and even the human body. We also are exposed to Alpha man-made sources of radiation like medical and dental X-rays, smoke detectors and The least penetrating, it can be television sets. stopped by a piece of paper. You could be exposed to radioactive materials in three ways: Beta • Radioactive material in the air and on the ground. You can prevent exposure by going to a place with no radioactive material. It can be stopped by a thin piece of aluminum. • Radioactive material on hair, skin and clothing. Exposure will stop if you wash off the radioactive material. Gamma • Breathing or swallowing radioactive material. Exposure will stop when the material It can be stopped by lead, water or concrete. stops giving off radiation or when your body eliminates it. Sources of Radiation Exposure 3 Public Notifications In the unlikely event of an emergency at the plant, pole-mounted sirens located throughout the plant’s 10-mile emergency planning zone (EPZ) will be activated to alert the public. Hearing the sirens does not mean you should evacuate. If you hear sirens and are not sure if it is a test of the system or an emergency, tune to one of the local radio or television emergency alert stations (EAS) listed in this brochure.

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