To evaluate preparedness in the case of a nuclear event at the Wolf Creek Generating Station, officials with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are at the plant today to carry out required exercises to prepare for possible emergencies.
The exercise, conducted every two years, is a joint effort between the two agencies to determine the adequacy of preparedness and response efforts in the event of an emergency. For the exercise, NRC officials will be on-site at the plant to evaluate plant operators; FEMA officials will evaluate the response of local and state officials and emergency management officers.
Though the exercise only takes place every two years, operators at the plant are in regular training for emergency situations, according to Jenny Hageman, media relations director for Wolf Creek.
“We practice constantly,” Hageman said of the plant’s training regimen. “We have drills four times a year, and then every two years we are evaluated.”
For Tuesday’s exercise, emergencies will be simulated, and operators will be watched closely to see how well they respond. There are time limits to the tests, Hageman said.
“We simulate an emergency that requires us to declare emergency classification and then we practice responding to that,” she said. “The operators will be evaluated on their ability to recognize emergencies and classify them correctly and recommend protective action orders.”
To evaluate the responses of local and state government entities, FEMA will have officials monitor how they respond to a possible event at the plant, according to Josh deBerge, external afffairs specialist for FEMA Region VII.
“FEMA’s responsibility is to look at things from an emergency management standpoint to see how prepared local entities are to respond to a nuclear event at the plant,” deBerge said.
Such exercises are held at every nuclear power plant in the country as part of FEMA’s Radiological Emergency Preparedness (REP) program.
Preliminary results of today’s test will be presented to the public at an open meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Coffey County Public Library, 401 Juniatta St. in Burlington. The meeting will describe and explain the full-scale response exercise process. The preliminary findings will be limited in scope because a complete evaluation will take months, according to a press release from FEMA, Region VII.