HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1077        FILED ON: 1/15/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1847

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Ruth B. Balser

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act incorporating the public health Fukushima lessons for nuclear emergency preparation.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1077        FILED ON: 1/15/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1847

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

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An Act incorporating the public health Fukushima lessons for nuclear emergency preparation.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1.  Subparagraph (1) of paragraph (B) of section 5K of chapter 111 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the first sentence the following 2 sentences:- The monitoring stations shall be set throughout a 20 mile radius of the nuclear power plant; provided, that the monitoring stations shall provide real-time information by wireless connection to a publicly accessible website; and provided, further that this provision shall remain in effect until all fuel rods have been removed from a nuclear power plant reactor and the spent fuel pool. The department shall also create mobile monitoring units to be deployed during a nuclear disaster.

SECTION 2.  Paragraph (F) of said section 5K of said chapter 111 is hereby amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- The department of public health shall stockpile thyroid-protecting agents pursuant to regulations promulgated by the department for cities and towns located within a 50 mile radius of a nuclear power plan; provided however, that the department shall distribute thyroid-protecting agents to each resident within 10 miles and shall stockpile sufficient thyroid-protecting agents for the public in schools, day care centers, hospitals, city halls and other government buildings within 50 miles; and provided, further that this provision shall remain in effect until all fuel rods have been removed from a nuclear power plant reactor and the spent fuel pool.

SECTION 3. The second sentence of section 2B of chapter 639 of the acts of 1950, as appearing in section 24 of chapter 796 of the acts of 1979, is hereby amended by striking out the figure “ten” and inserting in place thereof the following figure:- 20.

SECTION 4. Said section 2B of said chapter 639, inserted by said section 24 of said chapter 796, is hereby further amended by adding the following paragraph:-

The director shall, in October of each year, revise and distribute a brochure to each household within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant that provides basic information on: (i) what to do in the event of a nuclear disaster and (ii) how official information will be distributed and how to obtain official information, including in the event of an electrical outage. Designation as a “nuclear power plan area” shall remain in effect until all fuel rods have been removed from a nuclear power plant reactor and the spent fuel pool, and placed into dry cask storage or moved off-site.

SECTION 5.  The department of public health shall promulgate rules and regulations to implement sections 1 and 2, inclusive, within 180 days of the effective date of this act.