Emergency plan exercise at SCK•CEN and Belgoprocess on 15 December

The Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, SCK•CEN, (Studiecentrum voor Kernenergie) in Mol and Belgoprocess in Dessel have scheduled for Thursday, 15 December, an emergency plan exercise involving the simulation of a nuclear accident. Some of the local residents will therefore hear the company sirens being tested. There will also be a limited intervention by the emergency services.

Emergency plan exercises have been organized to field-test the procedures of emergency and intervention plans. On 15 December, the national, provincial and municipal emergency plans will be tested, together with the internal emergency plan procedures of SCK•CEN and Belgoprocess.

During this exercise, attention will be focused on:

• testing the specific emergency plan for the Mol-Dessel region
• the intervention of the emergency services on at least one of these two sites
• the response of the services involved facing simulated media pressure
• the notification by telephone of a limited number of local residents via the Crisis Information Network CIN.

Tests in order to provide better protection

Many official authorities and emergency services will be deployed in the event of a nuclear or radiological accident. The notification schedules and the operational procedures will be tested during the exercise. Afterwards, an evaluation will be carried out in order to identify possible areas of improvement. This will enable these services to better react and protect the population in the event of a real accident.

Who will take part in the exercise?

The exercise will be coordinated by the Crisis Centre of the Federal Public Service for Home Affairs, in consultation with:

• the federal department of the Governor of the Province of Antwerp
• the local authorities of Mol and Dessel
• the emergency services (fire department, police, civil protection…)
• the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC) and Bel V (control authority)
• Belgoprocess and the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre

More information:

City hall welcome and information desk, 014 33 07 11,