A routine exercise is to be held to test how multiple agencies would work together to protect the public in the unlikely event of a radiation emergency at Babcock’s Devonport facility.
Plans for dealing with a radiation incident at the co-located site, which supports nuclear powered submarines for the Royal Navy, are set out in the Devonport Off-site Emergency Plan. This outlines how the Ministry of Defence, Babcock International Group (Babcock), emergency services, Plymouth City Council, UK Health Security Agency and other responding agencies, would work together to protect the public.
The Devonport Off-site Emergency Plan is tested regularly through ‘Short Sermon’ exercises which involve the full range of agencies that would be involved in an emergency response.
The latest exercise, which will be held over three days, will assess how multiple organisations would be notified of an incident, how the public would be informed and kept up-to-date, decision making and communication around public health and how radiation monitoring would be managed.
Many Plymouth residents are already familiar with the plans for managing an emergency. The Devonport Off-site Emergency Plan includes a Detailed Emergency Planning Zone, which extends 1.5km from the submarine berths at the Dockyard.
Residents living in the zone – which also includes a small area of Torpoint and Wilcove in South East Cornwall – receive a booklet about what to do in the event of a radiation emergency. This is updated and reissued every three years. The booklet is also available on the City Council’s website.
Residents living near the site will also be familiar with the emergency siren, which is tested at 11.30am every Monday morning and used to alert personnel on the Devonport site of an incident.
Part of the public protection measures outlined in the plan – and referenced in the leaflet – is the distribution of stable iodine tablets to residents living in areas that might be impacted in the unlikely event of a release of radioactive material into the atmosphere. The tablets help protect the thyroid from harmful effects of radioactive iodine.
The exercise will involve personnel from the Devonport site simulating the distribution of tablets to some nearby households by posting a leaflet through doors. This part of the exercise is scheduled to take place on Thursday 10 July. Residents receiving the leaflet will not need to take any action.
A Devonport emergency text and phone alert system will also be tested on 10 July. Plymouth City Council, which manages the alerts, will send a test message to everyone who has signed up to receive the emergency notifications for Devonport. Recipients will not need to take any action.
The alerts are just one of the methods for warning and informing the public in the event of a major incident at the Devonport Site, which is regulated by statute. The Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2019 (REPPIR 2019) requires local authorities to have a plan to safeguard the public.
Councillor Sally Haydon, Plymouth City Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for community safety, said: “Many Plymouth residents are familiar with the weekly test of the dockyard siren at 11.30am on Monday mornings but there are also extensive plans in place for protecting the public in the unlikely event of a radiation emergency at the Devonport Site.
“The Council has a duty to ensure the plans are tested regularly so both the site regulators and the public can be assured that everything is in place in the event it is ever needed.
“The exercise is also a useful opportunity to remind residents that they can sign up to receive text or phone alerts in the event of an emergency. We will be testing the emergency notification system and anyone who is not yet signed up for the free alerts still has time to do so before we test it. There’s information about how to do this on the Council’s website, where you can also find the off-site emergency plan and the public information booklet explaining what to do in the event of an emergency.”