How prepared is Kansas for a nuclear emergency?
LEBO (KSNT) - Nuclear emergencies have many classifications, and in Kansas, emergency managers are prepared to protect the community from the worst case scenario.
Crews at the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant work relentlessly to prevent disasters like Chernobyl, Fukushima, and Three Mile Island.
"One of the big failings that we learned from the Three Mile Island accident was the communication with the public and how rapid it was and how accurate it was," said emergency planning manager Joshua Bousum. "That's the onus of this room and area of the emergency operations facility."
Just miles from the power plant, emergency management teams in the city of Lebo are prepared for anything.
"Anything at the alert level or higher, we activate this facility," said Bousum. "If we need to shelter or evacuate the public, it's within a 10-mile radius. And, then we'll take actions with the state if there's anything outside of that."
An emergency of this nature calls for an organized and credible response. Not just from emergency managers, but from the public as well.
"The worst thing is to hear something, not validate it, and just pass it along," said Bousum. "That's what we want to avoid."