A nuclear safety drill is to be held from Monday to Wednesday next week at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County, focusing on the potential effects of an earthquake, Atomic Energy Council Deputy Minister Liu Wen-chung (劉文忠) said on Monday.
The council’s annual safety drills alternate between the three operating nuclear power plants, with scenarios designed around the geographic location of each facility, Liu said.
The exercises, which are to be held in collaboration with the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction, would include the evacuation of area residents by boat from Houbihu (後壁湖), Pingtung’s largest fishing harbor, which is near the plant, Liu said.
It would be the first time a maritime evacuation is conducted as part of the annual drills, council official Liao Chia-chun (廖家群) said.
Although the effects of an earthquake have always been part of the drill scenarios, this year’s exercises would focus on a disaster analysis by the center that includes the simulated collapse of buildings and roads, Liao said.
Local government agencies, the Coast Guard Administration, the military and members of the public would take part in the drill, the council said.
Foreign dignitaries as well as nuclear disaster experts from the US and Japan have been invited to observe the exercises, it added.
On Tuesday, residents in or around the area are to be alerted via the government’s cellphone-based disaster warning system, Liao said.
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