Starting on Tuesday, a nuclear safety drill will be held for three days at the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in Shihmen District (石門), New Taipei City (新北市), the Atomic Energy Council announced yesterday.
The main aim of the drill is to inspect and test the improvements made to the nation’s nuclear safety mechanisms and comes a year after a tsunami sparked a nuclear disaster that crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant in Japan, the council said.
The scenario to be used in the drill will be based on the Fukushima disaster — a massive compound emergency that would require cross-ministerial cooperation, the council said.
The scenario will incorporate the geological features of the area surrounding the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant by simulating a failure in the power plant’s emergency backup system due to being struck by a typhoon after several days of heavy rainfall and mudslides in the mountainous areas of northern Taiwan, it added.
Aside from examining the facility’s safety improvements, the drill will serve to test the new emergency response equipment and procedures for the drastic measure of shutting down the plant, the council said.
The exercise will be the first time nuclear power plant staff will practice carrying out radiation detection in the air, on land and in the ocean.
Department of Nuclear Technology director Hsu Ming-te (徐明德) said the bureau has learned from the Fukushima nuclear disaster that radiation detection is important for determining where and how emergency evacuation should be executed.
The drill will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and on Sept. 12, the council said, adding that it will continue to strengthen emergency response cooperation between the army, the disaster prevention and rescue system, and civic rescue forces such as the Red Cross.
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