Disaster drill at Tomari nuke plant

October 22, 2018

Disaster drill at Hokkaido nuclear plant

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181022_23/

About 10,000 people in northern Japan are taking part in an evacuation drill based on a nuclear disaster occurring during a typhoon.

The drill is being held on Monday at the Tomari nuclear power plant and surrounding areas on the west coast of Hokkaido Prefecture. The plant's 3 reactors have been offline since 2012. The operator has applied to restart them.

Under the drill scenario, the cooling system for one of the reactors developed a problem during a typhoon and radioactive substances were leaked after the reactor's core was damaged.

Teachers at an elementary school near the plant moved the children into a gymnasium. They stayed there until the heavy rain and storm warnings were lifted.

The teachers began preparing to evacuate the children to a village roughly 40 kilometers away.

At a command center about 10 kilometers from the plant, local government officials issued evacuation orders after a state of emergency was declared by a man playing the role of prime minister.

The drill participants will also check if radiation monitoring posts are functioning properly.

More than 10 of the posts stopped working last month when a powerful earthquake triggered a massive blackout in Hokkaido.