Emergency preparedness exercise to be held at Beaver nuclear facility

An emergency preparedness exercise in Beaver County will assess the ability of Pennsylvania and West Virginia to respond to an emergency at a nuclear facility.

The Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency will evaluate a Biennial Radiological Emergency Preparedness Exercise at the Beaver Valley Power Station on June 11.

“These drills are held every other year to evaluate government’s ability to protect public health and safety,” said MaryAnn Tierney, regional administrator for FEMA Region 3. “We will assess state and local government emergency response capabilities within the 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and State of West Virginia.”

The final report will be available to the public about 120 days after the exercise.

FEMA will present preliminary findings of the exercise during a public meeting at 4:30 p.m. on June 13 at Pittsburgh Airport Marriott, 777 Aten Road, Coraopolis. Written comments may be submitted after the meeting by emailing FEMAR3NewsDesk@fema.dhs.gov.

FEMA created the Radiological Emergency Preparedness Program to ensure the health and safety of those living around commercial nuclear power plants would be adequately protected in the event of a nuclear power plant accident and to inform and educate the public about radiological emergency preparedness.

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