The public is free to participate in a town hall meeting at 7 p.m. today in the Buzzard Hall Auditorium to discuss aspects of nuclear safety in Illinois.

Fred Peralta, the producer and director of WEIU-TV, said the “Issues and Attitudes: Nuclear Safety in Illinois” event is the first of a series of programs to discuss issues and trends and how they affect the local community.

“Our first program is on nuclear safety in Illinois and it is prompted by discussion of the tragic events going on in Japan with the power plants there,” Peralta said. “We began to think what the plans are in Illinois for a nuclear incident and if the public really knows what will happen if something like that occurs.”

Jonathon Monken, the director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, is scheduled to attend the meeting as a panelist to discuss Illinois’s procedures with nuclear power plants. Peralta said the Illinois Emergency Management Agency is in charge of coordinating any disaster plan that may result from a nuclear accident.

“Illinois has the most nuclear power plants than any state in the union,” Peralta said. “They have 10 and most are located in the Chicago-land area but there is also one in Clinton.”

Janice Collins, a journalism professor, is the host and moderator of the “Issues and Attitudes: Nuclear Safety in Illinois” program.

“It is not going to be a pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear discussion,” Peralta said. “It is more of the case that these plants, however well designed, were made by human beings and human beings have been known to make mistakes.”

Peralta said the purpose of the program is to educate students and members of the community, and to give them a chance to voice their opinions on the issue of nuclear safety.

“There are very intricate and carefully designed methods used to try and minimize any nuclear mistake and its effect, but there might be a case in some point at some time where some event causes a small or large release of radioactivity in the atmosphere,” Peralta said.

The live 60-minute broadcast of the “Issues and Attitudes: Nuclear Safety in Illinois” program will air on WEIU-TV.

“I think the benefit of the event is an open and honest discussion to assess what our real risks and plans are,” Peralta said. “When you discuss what other people are afraid of we can begin to have an honest discussion of where we go from here.”

Peralta said the program is unique because it is a university and community sponsored event.

“(The event) is meant for all audiences we want to get past Ninth Street, and get out into the community to have this discussion,” Peralta said. “We want to get a real dialogue going between the community and the school.”

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-7942 or rjrodgers@eiu.edu.