Table top exercise: State Response to a terrorist attack against an NPP. STAR Contract

The response to a severe attack on a NPP encompasses protection of public and environment, maintaining public order and protection. To this end, the large number of local and national entities involved in the response will have to cooperate efficiently (security and safety authorities, operator teams, dedicated response forces, judicial authorities). The objective of STAR exercise:to develop a cultural integration of the implied agencies namely a mutual understanding between the safety and security stakes through national exercises,and to share with our European counterparts common modes for emergency management of a nuclear crisis. STAR is a scenario-driven case study, time-stepped facilitated discussion to address crisis decision management. The scenario considers an attack against a NPP requesting an emergency response at national level. Although NPPs are designed to sustain such attacks, the emergency preparedness and response management has to be prepared. The scenario provides successive failures of safety functions requiring timely and appropriate measures to be taken to stop the aggression and to restore safety. The objective is to identify and develop key issues related to the effectiveness of the response through a facilitated discussion. The scenario is organised by time-steps and used by facilitators to lead participants through the case study to express theirs comments, points of view, criticisms. The final discussion allows identifying good practices and recommendations. The first STAR session showed the importance of human factor and organizational issues such as: the coordination between the involved agencies, the need for a common language, the need to simplify the decision channels, the management of contradictory orders, or the management of available skills. The article is followed by the slides of the presentation