Emergency Planning: The ever-present nuclear threat

Publication date: November 2002

Summary
This year, the government made local authorities that host nuclear power stations formally responsible for devising plans that detail how our emergency services and local councils will respond to a radiological emergency. The plans revolve around a detailed plan for the area immediately around each power station, called the Detailed Emergency Planning Zone (DEPZ). In this zone, the local authorities have to design countermeasures that are triggered by different levels of radiation being released. Beyond this tiny zone - the largest is just 3.3km/2 miles away from the relevant power station - the public will have to rely upon the local authorities to miraculously "extend" the zones, with little extra money or resources. The rest of us are left more or less completely exposed.

At a time when the government is sending out mixed messages about the terrorist threat we all face, Greenpeace have commissioned a report that explores how effective our current nuclear emergency plans would be if the unthinkable ever became a reality. They include scenarios explained in detail below that indicate that our present emergency plans would be overwhelmed alarmingly quickly, putting the safety of all of us in jeopardy.