Consultants charged with reviewing the controversial National Emergency Plan for Nuclear Accidents have recommended the establishment of a control centre for the management of such incidents.
Environmental Resources Management (ERM) said the current "operations room", in the headquarters of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) in Clonskeagh, Dublin, was unsuitable for a genuine emergency.
"A need has been identified for a facility which would be fitted with all the necessary hardware, telephone links, logistical facilities, media-briefing section, map boards and so on. There is nowhere in the RPII where that can be done," said the ERM manager, Mr Des Page.
Speaking to The Irish Times, he said the ERM was also advising the Department of Public Enterprise to establish a national nuclear training programme aimed at "deepening levels of competence" within Government Departments and State agencies on the issue of emergency planning.
These and other recommendations are to be contained in an ERM report to be forwarded to the Department before the end of the month. It follows a simulation exercise by the consultants in November, in which the response of personnel was assessed.
Mr Page said flaws had been identified in the nuclear plan, adding: "You will never reach a state of perfection".
However, "given the state of training people have done heretofore and the severity of the exercise we put them through . . . they did extremely well".
The exercise, on November 10th, involved a simulated accident at the Wylfa nuclear power plant in Wales, the first notification of which was issued to an RPII duty officer at 5.45 a.m. He contacted Garda control, which notified members of the Emergency Response Co-ordination Committee (ERCC). By 6.08 a.m. the first public information message on the incident was ready for broadcast. By 6.15 a.m. a "working core" of RPII and ERCC personnel were on site at Clonskeagh, which, said Mr Page, was an excellent response.
Personnel had been given notice of the day of the exercise but not of the time. As the exercise progressed, agencies were given additional information to indicate that areas of Co Wicklow would be worst hit by radioactive fallout.
Mr Page said the ERCC took a decision by 8.30 a.m., "based on a worst-case view", to evacuate the area. The decision, he said, was partly informed by the fact that iodine tablets had yet to be distributed to the area.
As it turned out, levels of radiation were below the evacuation threshold. However, that did not mean the decision was incorrect. It was made based on the information at hand at the time.
The ERM director, Mr Sean O'Riordan, stressed that the exercise was not a reaction to September 11th but had been in gestation since last summer. The consultants had intended to hold a "cold-call" exercise on September 22nd. However, events in the US, which diverted key security personnel, meant "we had to tailor it back".
Of the proposed new training programme, the consultants recommended it should be developed over five years, with separate training plans from local authority level upwards. Mr O'Riordan said it was critical that responsibility for emergency planning fell on teams rather than individuals, as was the case at present.
A "cultural change" was also required in the Civil Service, Mr Page said, to allow nominated members of the ERCC make decisions in emergency situations on behalf of Government Departments.
He added that many of the recommendations were made by the ERCC itself, which accepted there were issues and gaps in the plan that needed to be addressed. These included the need to reinforce public information structures, ensure a "unified message" was disseminated to the media in an emergency and more regular auditing of the plan.
The consultants recommend the holding of a simulation exercise at least once every two years.
