Nuclear power plant emergency response team
Encyclopedia
A nuclear power plant emergency response team (ERT) is an incident response team
composed of plant personnel and civil authority personnel specifically trained to respond to the occurrence of an accident
at a nuclear power plant
.
Each nuclear power plant is required to have a detailed emergency plan. In the event of a potential accident (as defined by the International Nuclear Event Scale
), the ERT personnel are notified by beeper and have a set time limit for reporting to their duty station.
Potential duty stations include:
In the United States, ERT personnel are required to train twice a year and typically train four times. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
(with support from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
and other agencies) grades some of the drills. The drills normally are not announced in advance so as to simulate "surprise" conditions.
Incident Response Team
An incident response team or emergency response team is a group of people who prepare for and respond to any emergency incident, such as a natural disaster or an interruption of business operations. Incident response teams are common in corporations as well as in public service organizations...
composed of plant personnel and civil authority personnel specifically trained to respond to the occurrence of an accident
Nuclear and radiation accidents by country
This is a List of nuclear and radiation accidents by country.This list only reports the proximate confirmed human deaths and does not go into detail about ecological, environmental or long term effects such as birth defects or permanent loss of habitable land.-Brazil:*September 13, 1987 – Goiania...
at a nuclear power plant
Nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...
.
Each nuclear power plant is required to have a detailed emergency plan. In the event of a potential accident (as defined by the International Nuclear Event Scale
International Nuclear Event Scale
The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale was introduced in 1990 by the International Atomic Energy Agency in order to enable prompt communication of safety significance information in case of nuclear accidents....
), the ERT personnel are notified by beeper and have a set time limit for reporting to their duty station.
Potential duty stations include:
- The nuclear power plant's Control RoomControl RoomControl Room is a 2004 documentary film about Al Jazeera and its relations with the US Central Command , as well as the other news organizations that covered the 2003 invasion of Iraq...
- The nuclear power plant's Emergency Operations Facility
- An offsite (i.e., not near the nuclear plant) operations facility
- A news center
- Roving teams of health physicists who scan for possible radioactive fallout
- Police traffic direction
In the United States, ERT personnel are required to train twice a year and typically train four times. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Federal Emergency Management Agency
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders...
(with support from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975...
and other agencies) grades some of the drills. The drills normally are not announced in advance so as to simulate "surprise" conditions.
See also
- List of nuclear power stations
- List of nuclear reactors
- Nuclear Emergency Support TeamNuclear Emergency Support TeamThe Nuclear Emergency Support Team is a team of scientists, technicians, and engineers operating under the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration...
(NEST) - different from ERTs here - Nuclear reactor technology