200-plus volunteers take part in Point Lepreau mock disaster

For the past two days the Point Lepreau nuclear station has been the site of a massive mock exercise. 

NB Power, co-ordinating with more than 30 other agencies including the Emergency Measures Organization, is testing its emergency preparedness. 

Safety exercises are done every three years — but officials say this is the biggest Lepreau has undertaken.

• Dry run of nuclear emergency at Point Lepreau on Tuesday

Organizers of Exercise Intrepid laid out a scenario in which Point Lepreau is dealing with a severe weather event, serious enough to warrant evacuating the area within a 20-kilometre radius.

About 200 people volunteered to play evacuees, and were greeted at a Red Cross station with equipment to scan them for radiation. Nancy Williams was one of those volunteers.

"It wasn't bad, like if it was the real thing it would be bad," she said. "But it's good to know what to do and where to go."

"Evacuees" Cathy Kennedy and Susan Postma were assigned roles to play, and both said they were not happy with the care they received.

"It was very slow coming in," said Kennedy. "I was a person who had the flu and was very ill, but I found no one was really paying attention to me until I was registered."

Susan Postma was asked to play someone who was distraught, and did not want to leave her home. She was trying to find out from officials when she would be allowed to return.

"Of course, [the Red Cross volunteer] didn't have any answers," said Postma. "But I should have been led to someone that could have taken care of that or tried to calm me down a bit."

Bill Lawlor, the New Brunswick Director of the Canadian Red Cross, says the information from volunteers like Postma and Kennedy is valuable.

"This is the opportunity during this exercise to say … we could do this a lot better the next time," he said.

A report on the operation is expected to be released within the next few months.