On October 24 Chornobyl NPP staff participated in the plant civil protection drill on evacuation in case of fire. The scheduled activities took place involving outside organizations and were aimed at checking emergency preparedness of personnel and facility emergency departments and organizations.
According to the Head of ChNPP Emergency Preparedness and Response Department, Dmytro Kondratov, the drill was not ordinary as it involved all resources and capabilities of Chornobyl NPP, fire-fighting brigades of both the plant and the Chornobyl Exclusion zone, and also representatives of the Military unit 3041, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine Field Office in Kyiv region and the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine.
According to the previously approved scenario, there occurred fire in one of premises in the office building. The staff of a four-storey building had to leave the premises immediately. In order to make the drill more challenging an additional obstacle was introduced — one of the evacuation exits was "smoked", so all the personnel had to leave the premises only through one exit. The control of the exits was carried out with the help of personnel of the Military unit and the Physical Protection Regime Department.
Chornobyl NPP fire-fighting brigade arrived at the imaginary fire just 4 minutes after the call. During this time, all staff of the office of 95 people were evacuated from the building and concentrated in a safe place, which enabled the fire subdivisions to immediately start preparations for fire extinguishing.
"I think the training went well, almost without criticism. The evacuation took a short time, and the actions of the staff were absolutely correct. Emergency exits were opened, the staff gathered in the right place and executed all orders of plant's management and the head of the electric shop as the incident commander. Such civil protection drills are carried out at least twice a year. This year they will be taking place more frequently, since at the request of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine we conduct drills on evacuation of personnel in several ChNPP buildings and facilities during the year", — said Dmytro Kondratov.
