After an extensive two and a half day exercise which included participation with Point Beach Nuclear Plant, the State of Wisconsin, Kewaunee County and Calumet County, preliminary results from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) show Manitowoc County satisfies emergency response criteria in each of the 23 tested areas of the Point Beach Nuclear Plant Ingestion Pathway Emergency Response Exercise, and no significant issues were detected.
From September 18 – 20, evaluations assessed how well response agencies are able to protect the health and safety of people potentially at risk of radiological contamination in the 10-mile radius of Point Beach Nuclear Plant, in the very unlikely case such an event would occur. The evaluations were held by FEMA in Manitowoc, Two Rivers, Kewaunee, Luxemburg, Green Bay, and Madison.
According to FEMA, Manitowoc County performed well in areas that included alerting the public, command and control of the incident response, coordinating response efforts between Kewaunee County and Manitowoc County agencies, coordinating public safety information with the Joint Information Center in Green Bay, operating a decontamination center for potential evacuees, as well as responding to unforeseen circumstances such as handling traffic impediments, which can impact designated evacuation routes in an emergency situation.
Manitowoc County Emergency Management Director Jamie Aulik says more than 75 employees and volunteers participated in the exercise on behalf of Manitowoc County, which included various county departments, law enforcement agencies, fire departments, UW-Extension, Holy Family Memorial Hospital, Two Rivers School District, American Red Cross, RACES amateur radio, and Seehafer Broadcasting.
Aulik had this to say, “Every other year, a number of agencies in Manitowoc County participate in an emergency response exercise in conjunction with Point Beach Nuclear Plant. It was great to see our emergency response team come together to effectively deal with a simulated incident as expansive as this scenario. Manitowoc County leadership,
public safety responders and emergency dispatchers are highly trained professionals who take their public safety responsibilities seriously, and our team showed we can cohesively work together to effectively protect the health and safety of the public. We wouldn’t have had such a successful exercise without the support and dedication of those involved.”
The final report from FEMA on the exercise will be made available to the public in 90 days.
