Successful Emergency Preparedness Exercise Complete

Exercise Unified Control at Pickering Nuclear December 6 & 7

PICKERING, ON, Dec. 8, 2017 /CNW/ - Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and more than 30 partner organizations have successfully completed a large-scale, emergency preparedness exercise at Pickering Nuclear Generating Station.

During the two day exercise on December 6 and 7, OPG, Region of Durham, City of Toronto, City of Pickering, and other provincial and federal government agencies worked together, tested each organization's emergency response plans, and ensured all participants were able to work together to help safeguard the health and safety of the public in the extremely unlikely event of a nuclear emergency.

Safety is the top priority at OPG and at the core of its operations. The company routinely leads and participates in emergency preparedness exercises to ensure it is ready to respond to any potential incident. OPG's nuclear facilities are staffed with highly trained personnel, and feature multiple safety barriers, including rapid shutdown technology, airtight containment buildings, standby generators, emergency power generators and auxiliary generators.

In 2017, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) awarded OPG's Darlington and Pickering nuclear stations its highest safety ratings.

In the more than four decades that nuclear power has served Canada's energy needs, no member of the public has been harmed because of a radiation emission from a nuclear power plant.

Daily summary videos for ExUC are available: ExUC Day One, ExUC Day Two. 

Quotes:

"Safety is a core value at OPG," said Glenn Jager, OPG Nuclear President and Chief Nuclear Officer. "This exercise clearly demonstrates that, in the unlikely case of a nuclear incident, we have a plan in place that will protect the health and safety of the public and the environment."

"We appreciate the dedication of all partners, whose efforts contributed to a successful exercise," said Roger Anderson, Regional Chair and Chief Executive Officer. "ExUC provided Regional employees with an opportunity to work in co-operation with other participating organizations to test and evaluate the effectiveness of our emergency response plans. As a next step, we have identified action items to help ensure that the Region is better positioned to respond in the unlikely event of a nuclear incident."

"Being prepared to respond to emergencies helps ensure Ontario is as resilient as possible in order to keep our families and communities safe, said Ross Nichols, Ontario Fire Marshal and Chief, Emergency Management. "Exercises like Unified Control bring key emergency management partners together to test our plans and make sure we can work seamlessly together to effectively respond to critical incidents."

SOURCE Ontario Power Generation Inc.