Plant Vogtle debriefs important emergency exercise
WAYNESBORO, Ga. (WJBF) – An emergency exercise that is required every two years is taking place this week at Plant Vogtle.
Georgia and South Carolina conducted Plant Vogtle’s radiological emergency exercise on Tuesday and Wednesday, and several leaders gathered to talk about how it went Friday.
Officials from Burke County joined leaders from several other organizations around the state to discuss.
Some of which included the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, Georgia’s DNR-Environmental Protection Division, Georgia Power Company, and Southern Nuclear Operating Company.
J.T. Ackermann represents Region 4 for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
“This particular exercise is done once every 8 years, however the one day portion of it is held every two years. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission evaluates the on-site, and FEMA evaluates all of the off-site–and that would be the states of Georgia and South Carolina,” Ackermann said.
They evaluated 12 sites across Burke, Aiken, Barnwell, and Allendale counties with 28 evaluators–and no problems were found in FEMA’s initial eval.
“Our preliminary results showed that there were no issues identified, however, we have not completed our analysis,” said Ackermann. “Most importantly, it is FEMA Region 4’s position that reasonable assurance relative to the off-site preparedness for Plant Vogtle will continue.”
Burke County EMS PIO Amylia Lester says these drills are important to prepare for the worst of situations, including the ice storm that happened 10 years ago.
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“There were a lot of power outages, and it was quite cold, so we gave protective action information to people who had medical devices as an example who needed power and that type of stuff, which goes into that same category as functional needs,” Lester said.
Ackermann adds that this evaluation and exercise are critical to ensure the nuclear plant can ensure public safety.
“Plant Vogtle and the off sites have to demonstrate that one, they can protect the health and safety of the public, and two that they can respond to the incident and still maintain the overall health and safety of the public. That in and of itself is very important, and that’s exactly what we’re evaluating.”
Ackermann says the next steps are to send a draft report to state and local government agencies on June 21st.
FEMA will then receive comments from those agencies by July 21st, and a final report will be published by August 20th.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp will be visiting Plant Vogtle next Wednesday, May 29th, marking the completion of Units 3 and 4.
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