Planning, Implementing and Assessing Site Emergency Procedures at Civil Power Stations in the United Kingdom

It is a statutory requirement that each Nuclear-Power Station in the United Kingdom must produce and exercise an emergency plan designed to deal adequately with any accident or other emergency on site which could lead- to the release of significant quantities of radioactive material. The first part of this paper examines the organisation involved in implementing these requirements at local level, including the design of emergency plans, the provision of emergency equipment and the training of site personnel in emergency duties. The need for rapid and precise action to re-establish plant control and thereby limit the potential hazard to the site and external environment is of prime importance. This, together with the location and rescue of casualties from the affected plant presents considerable problems in the control of emergency workers, particularly in terms of accumulated dose and the need to guard against an asphyxiating atmosphere. The second part of the paper describes an actual full scale demonstration of an emergency exercise carried out at Bradwell Power Station, and discusses the problem of equating the results with those which would pertain under actual conditions. (author)