Out-of-Village Evacuation Drill Held for Tokai N-Plant

July 16, 2018

Tokai, Ibaraki Pref.- The village of Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, conducted a drill to evacuate people out of the village on Monday, assuming an emergency at a nuclear power plant located in the eastern Japan municipality.

About 400 people, including villagers and local government personnel, participated in the out-of-village evacuation exercise, the first of its kind, in line with a wide-area evacuation plan being worked out.

The plant, the Tokai No. 2 nuclear plant of Japan Atomic Power Co., will reach the operational limit of 40 years in November. On June 4, the plant received the effective go-head for reactivation from the Nuclear Regulation Authority, which concluded that the plant meets Japan's toughened safety standards.

Monday's exercise assumed a fall in the water level of the spent fuel pool at the plant.

The village government simulated the establishment of a disaster response task force at its office and urged villagers to evacuate by a community radio communication system and social media.

Following the alert by the local government, about 170 people, mainly villagers, headed by bus to Toride, one of the three Ibaraki cities designated as evacuation destinations.

At a virtual shelter set up at a municipal junior high school, participants practiced the distribution of stockpiled food and held a lecture on disaster response.

Akira Shinohara, 81, was one of the villagers who took part in the drill. "I wanted to check at firsthand how we should take refuge," he said. "I'm worried if I can evacuate like this when an accident actually takes place."

Osamu Yamada, mayor of Tokai, said, "I think the series of steps (in the drill) was smooth, but the issue is whether we can take prompt action in the event of an emergency." Jiji Press