Watts Bar Nuclear Station emergency preparedness drill announced for November

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) announced on Monday that the Watts Barr Nuclear Generating Station will be taking part in an emergency preparedness exercise scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 18.

This exercise will involve first response personnel from local, federal and state agencies, and performance of participants will be graded. The TVA states that those living within the plant’s proximity will see increased traffic and will experience brief siren activations from the site and outside of the facility.

Exercises like this one are a part of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) licensing procedure in order to determine that a nuclear plant has appropriate emergency preparedness procedures and that staff are adequately trained to respond in the case of an accident or other emergency situation.

Following the exercise, representatives from the Department of Homeland Security and the NRC will provide their evaluations of the staff and first responders' performance over the course of the emergency exercise. This will take the form of a public meeting that will take place Friday, Nov. 20, at the Comfort Inn at Decatur Pike in Athens, Tennessee. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET.

Currently, there is a second nuclear reactor being built at the Watts Barr facility.