In the months leading to the day in July 1985 when Grand Gulf Nuclear Station fired up there were lots of meetings.

Actually, there had been meetings before and all through the 10-year construction process.

But in those final days, final decisions were made and emergency responsibilities were doled out.

That was almost 24 years ago.

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Vicksburg Mayor Laurence Leyens was not at all satisfied with the response of the Warren County Emergency Management Agency. He had a list of grievances, topped by the fact that it wasn’t immediately clear where fuel could be obtained for police cars, ambulances and fire trucks during the week or more this part of the state was without electricity.

Leyens, who concedes having less tact than might be expected for a public servant, was rebuffed by the Warren County Board of Supervisors who felt the response wasn’t perfect, but was good enough. Later, they formalized an updated county emergency response plan, also good enough. Leyens immediately rejected it.

He didn’t want to, he said, but his oath to the citizens of Vicksburg required him to prepare the city for disasters. He said that if it meant a completely separate plan for the city, so be it.

Anna Booth, who had no previous experience in the area, was tasked to lead the effort.

Perhaps in dusting off old files, agreements made regarding Grand Gulf were rediscovered. A new round of fractiousness has ensued.

Now there has not been a single event at Grand Gulf in a quarter-century that has had any off-site consequences and there’s no reason to expect there ever will be. Still, for those who missed out on learning this, when things go bad at a nuclear plant, they go really, really bad.

The plant poses absolutely no risk of blowing up. Nothing could happen that would make Mississippi’s only nuclear plant do the same thing as a nuclear bomb. Its real danger is a “breach of the containment,” which would result in a release of radiation in amounts large or small.

When particles of radiation land on people (or animals or anything else), sickness follows. How immediate and how severe the sickness is, again, dependent on whether the exposure was large or small.

Anyone who has seen a science fiction movie knows about decontamination. For people, it involves removing clothing and scrubbing the skin with copious amounts of soap and high-pressure water.

One of the things Vicksburg agreed back in 1985 to do was, assuming this area didn’t get a heavy dose of radiation, facilitate a decontamination center or centers. Back then, I think, Warren Central and Vicksburg Auditorium were to be sites.

Entergy Nuclear, which operates the plant, conducts regular drills and reviews of many varieties. Some are centered on site safety. Others are centered on what to do if there’s a lapse in site safety or a malfunction that causes an emergency. The reviews are intense and Grand Gulf, when it hasn’t passed with flying colors, has taken remedial steps.

Off-site there are fewer drills. They are also scaled down. Just as there were no test evacuations of the Gulf Coast or New Orleans, there have been no tests actually evacuating Port Gibson, Fayette, Natchez, Newellton, St. Joseph, Tallulah or Vicksburg or hosing down dozens or hundreds of people. Instead, the idea is to have key personnel who know the protocol and can set a response in motion and direct actions as a situation, such as a release of radiation, develops.

It’s in this process that Leyens learned Entergy has been paying Warren County $6,000 for “preparedness” expenses while the City of Vicksburg hasn’t been getting a dime. Last week, culminating weeks of less-public exchanges, Booth notified county and Mississippi Emergency Management Agency officials that Vicksburg would be opting out unless its expenses, calculated at about $2,000 a day, were reimbursed.

Leyens is right, of course. It’s not right to pay one government and not the other.

But imagine the cost of standing on principle in this case.

Imagine an emergency where help could be provided, but no one knew what to do.

Prudence would dictate that this situation be resolved.

Grand Gulf is no more and no less dangerous than it was in 1985. But if it was smart for local governments to work together then, it seems no less advisable today.