with nuclear weapons, Walker noted: “We have not specifically planned for nuclear war in recent years, though our emergency preparedness plans are relevant.”

In the event of an accident at the R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant in Wayne County, the Monroe Office of Emergency Management maintains response plans-including possible evacuation-for a 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone surrounding the nuclear plant.Īs for an attack on the U.S. In a follow-up email, Walker noted that the county Office of Emergency Management “routinely reviews action plans and schedules periodic incident management exercises for possible nuclear events at Ginna-as well as for scenarios for things like natural disasters, weather emergencies, terrorism, derailments and other scenarios that impact air and water quality, infrastructure, electric power and other threats to the public.” on the old fallout shelter locations other than old relics like fallout shelter signs, air raid warden helmets.” The county has been getting “a lot of questions” about this topic lately, he noted. None are maintained and have not been since the 1970s or 1980s, wrote Gary Walker, Monroe County director of communications, in an email to the Beacon. At its height, this civil defense program, as reported recently by City newspaper, offered enough space and supplies to sustain as many as 375,000 county residents.īut those shelters are long gone. In the 1960s, Monroe County maintained shelters in hundreds of buildings-schools, office, warehouses-that could provide protection for radioactive fallout. Which American cities would likely be targets? In Rochester, what safety measures has local government taken? And what precautions can individuals take? Such questions now have an immediacy that did not exist before Russian launched its attach on Ukraine in late February. While the chance of a U.S.-Russia nuclear war appears low, if it did occur, the death toll for a single strike easily could reach into the tens of thousands, with many more injured, and widespread destruction and contamination from radiation. In a recent survey conducted by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 71 percent of adults said they think Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased the possibility of nuclear weapons being used, and nearly half are “extremely” or “very” concerned such weapons will target the United States.

Image: /Department of Homeland SecurityĪmericans’ fears of nuclear war have reached levels not seen since the tensest days of the Cold War.

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