What to do if sirens sound. If unable to move away from the area for at least two miles, take shelter in a substantial building. More than 2,000 area residents report to work here each day, making the plant by far the largest employer in McCracken County. It also offers some of the best-paying jobs in a region plagued by low salaries. An awful lot of households have depended on those jobs through the years.
People clamor to work there.
Everyone recognizes that a uranium plant poses risks, Doolittle said. But overall, he stressed, most residents consider the plant well run and the risks acceptable. You don't know what you're breathing. Lamb said he's been worried about such things since a test of his well water identified plutonium nine years ago. The Energy Department called the reading an error, but Lamb said he was suspicious when his parents developed severe digestive problems about the same time.