SANATOGA PA – The “anticipation of potential civil disturbance issues over the controversial topic” of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) license review for Exelon Corp.’s Limerick Generating Station created 32 hours of overtime staffing for the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Police Department, the Board of Commissioners learned Monday (Oct. 3, 2011).

The Nuclear Reulartory Commission held hearings Sept. 22 at Sunnybrook Ballroom on the re-licensing of Limerick Generating Station

The NRC has already paid the township to cover the $1,468 cost of its added manpower, police Chief Michael Shade reported. “I just received its check,” he told board members during their first of two monthly meetings.

The NRC held two hearings Sept. 22 at Sunnybrook Ballroom, 50 Sunnybrook Rd., Sanatoga PA, for public comments related to environmental and safety concerns over whether the nuclear reactor facilities should be re-licensed to operate for another 20-year period. The police department provided a substantial presence, with at least four officers stationed inside the ballroom for each session.

Both went smoothly, and commenters were orderly and generally courteous, NRC representatives agree. Although there was no indication the hearings were deemed a situation that required emergency management, they were significant enough to be the lead subject of the October monthly report submitted to commissioners by township emergency management coordinator (EMC) and police Lt. Michael Foltz.

As part of the increased security detail, Foltz wrote, an off-site EMC command post was set up at Sunnybrook and voluntarily manned for more than eight hours by Deputy Coordinator Chris Wilcox. Wilcox “monitored and logged activities” a part of his duties, Foltz wrote. The lieutenant himself was part of the police detail.

The police presence was not lost among some in attendance. State Rep. Tom Quigley, who testified during the Sept. 22 afternoon session, sent Shade an e-mail the following day to personally thank him and his officers for being available. “You can never tell with issues like this,” Quigley wrote, “so better safe than sorry. I still maintain that just the presence of the police has a calming effect on most people.”

Related (to federal re-licensing of Limerick Generating Station):

• Police Detail At Limerick Hearings Cost $1,468
• Local Voices Endorse, Worry Over Nuclear Relicensing
• NRC Holds Public Meetings Thursday At Sunnybrook
• NRC Holds Public Meetings Sept. 22 At Sunnybrook
• NRC Legal Notice: Meetings Ahead At Sunnybrook
• NRC Staffers Stop By, Say ‘Hi’ To Commissioners
• Exelon Nuclear Renewals Win Two Early Endorsements
• Exelon Officially Asks To Extend LGS Operating Licenses
• Meeting Wednesday To Review Limerick Nuclear Safety
• LGS License Renewals Topic At May Chamber Breakfast

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Oct. 3):

• Police Detail At Limerick Hearings Cost $1,468
• Pruss Hill Bridge Might Re-Open With Weight Limit