About three months ago we bought a home only three miles away (and 20 miles to Raleigh) from the Harris Nuclear Power Plant. We considered the many tradeoffs with benefits of living in a more rural area near lakes and forests while being mindful of extra unnatural radioactivity in the environment much less the fear of low probability-high consequence risks of a nuclear meltdown. If you saw the recent NETFLIX docudrama on Three Mile Island (TMI), I can understand how scary it might feel wondering if that could ever happen again? The series does reveal the scarcity and importance of honest corporate officials, vigilant regulators, accurate reporters, insider whistleblowers and community organizers.
So far, I feel safe living so close to Harris NPP based on what I know about building, operating, and regulating nuclear power plants. Power plants have improved tremendously over many decades as a direct result of lessons learned from accidents and world events like 9/11. In 2019, I published a series of eight blogs on Mitigating Nuclear Hazards examining my professional experiences with the nuclear fuel cycle including blog number 5 on Reactors.
Finding unbiased sources of information - people, especially experts, who are not pro-nuke or anti-nuke is essential for getting at the realities of safely living by a nuclear power plant. I highly recommend checking out the series of videos by University of Illinois Energy Professor Dr. David Ruzic including the 2021 overview Dispelling the Myths of Nuclear Power and a technical recounting of the history of TMI.
So I’m just beginning to learn specifically about the Duke Energy Progress Harris plant. I discovered that the sign in front of the closed visitors center (“open by appointment only”) provides an outdated phone number because the area code changed from 919 to 984 so the correct number is 984-229-6261. Some websites and customer service representatives still had the old number last time I checked.
So I reached out to the resident inspectors (who live in our community) with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to get the correct information. This led to my attending the first tour of the environmental center after the Covid pandemic ended public events. The Harris public affairs specialist is Michelle Burton who can be reached at 984-229-2160. She and Nathan Blanton, a senior scientist for radiation protection, provided an overview of the plant operations to a group of 10 people - mostly with the girl scouts.
I also joined a public meeting held by NRC one month ago on the phone focusing on annual safety inspections of the Harris plant. I was the only member of the public to ask questions on topics including cyber security, evacuation routes, upgrades to equipment, and nuclear waste.
I am hopeful to attend a tour of the plant inside the protected area if it’s offered later this fall. I’ve joined my neighborhood HOA safety committee to be a community organizer seeking and sharing accurate information on topics including the swimming pool, traffic, and the nuclear power plant.
For residents living within a 5-mile radius of the nuclear power plant, the company issues a public alert radio. To obtain the radio, I spoke with Dave Bell (984-229-2229) in the emergency preparedness department at the Harris plant who dropped a Midland weather alert radio off at my house. I found preset channel 7 with a broadcast frequency of 162.550 MHz provides the best reception. Now we’re getting many frequent alerts from the National Weather Service. The Harris plant sends weekly radio tests on Wednesday’s at noon according to the EP Booklet which provides abundant community information including on evacuation routes.
So if you’re in the area perhaps on the way to Harris Lake County Park and driving by the Harris Energy and Environmental Center please let me know if they update the visitors sign with the correct phone number to schedule tours. You may also enjoy the White Oak nature trail with short loops and numerous trees identified. Calling the company public affairs specialist and NRC to request public meetings is another way to show an engaged and informed community.