Comunicado de Prensa en español
This week, state and local emergency officials joined representatives from Duke Energy in an exercise to test emergency response plans for the Brunswick Nuclear Plant in Southport.
The exercise started Tuesday with a focus on the 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone around the Brunswick Nuclear plant and evaluated the command, control, communications and response functions of the state, county and utility partners.
On Wednesday, the exercise included officials from the state and counties within a 50-mile radius of the Brunswick Nuclear Plant, including Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender, Sampson counties and Horry County in South Carolina. These officials gathered in Clinton for a tabletop exercise to discuss their collaborative response to agricultural and food supply concerns that would be expected after a release of radiation from a nuclear power plant, and the process of re-entry and re-occupancy after evacuation.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Federal Emergency Management Agency require such exercises every two years to test response plans within a 10-mile radius of the plant. Once every eight years, the NRC and FEMA requires state and local officials to exercise response plans withing a 50-mile radius of the plant, including impacts to agricultural interests, food supply and plans for return home after evacuation.
FEMA evaluators will present the exercise outcome to the public at a meeting on Friday, July 29 at 11 a.m. at Brunswick Community College (150 College Rd NE, Bolivia NC 28422). The public and media are invited to attend this exercise review meeting.
