Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Dr. Strangeplume, or how I learned to stop worrying and love the siren

Okay, so, I don't really love the siren, but let's unpack what it means. Every Monday, a shelter in place alarm test is supposed to go off at the plants and on the local media services. This alarm, in a real emergency, is supposed to signify that hazardous materials have been released into the atmosphere.

I'm reminded, strangely, of the old nuclear emergency plans. "Hide under your desk kids! The radiation won't get you." Yikes. The Shelter in Place plan essentially says the same thing. Certainly, being inside might provide some protection, but air/radiation/other contaminants do tend to ignore walls and roofs. It might be the only plan, but is it an acceptable plan for our fellow citizens?

A Parish police officer explained that the test is a good example of some of the ways that the plant tries to protect the neighboring citizens. He also remarked that if the plants were to explode, it would leave a crater the size of Texas (!!!). Now, I'm not sure exactly what this alarm is supposed to sound like and I can't really verify the Texas comment, but all reports to me indicate that the alarm is a garbled, completely incomprehensible message blasted from the plants.

Let's note, we weren't able to hear the alarm on Monday at noon, when it was supposed to go off-- even though we were most definitely in the Mossville area... ~~ Josh

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