New Brunswick readies for major nuclear preparedness exercise

The New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization (EMO) and NB Power are gearing up for a major nuclear exercise next month.

It’s meant to test the province’s preparation level in the unlikely event of an emergency at the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station near Saint John. A demonstration of how a decontamination unit would operate in the unlikely event it is needed was held today.

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The elaborate setup covers all the bases from radiation detection to showering, and even more detection measures if needed, all the way to registration and eventual transportation.

Officials say in the unlikely event of an EMO-ordered evacuation, there are slim chances of decontamination measures being necessary and set up along Highway 1.

“Plans and procedures are so stringent here and the time between we hear of a possible radiation emergency or release, it only takes three hours to evacuate the entire 20 kilometres around Point Lepreau,” said Roger Shepard, EMO’s nuclear preparedness manager.

Shepard says that amounts to less than 5,000 people.

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The decontamination unit is part of a major exercise to test preparation levels in the event of a nuclear emergency at Lepreau. The Synergy Challenge is a two-day, full scale event starting Oct. 3.

“It involves various organizations and up to 1,000 people, players if you will, responding to this exercise,” added NB Power spokesperson Marie-Andree Bolduc. The exercise is part of Point Lepreau’s licensing requirement.

In the meantime, Shepard was brief and confident in describing the province’s preparedness level.

“Here in New Brunswick ,we are very much ready for a response to a radiation emergency at Point Lepreau.”