Drill held for leaks from nuclear submarines

Sasebo City, southwestern Japan, has held a drill to prepare for possible radioactive leaks from a nuclear submarine docked at a US naval base in the city.

About 500 people, including local residents, took part in Thursday's drill.

It was based on a scenario of radioactive materials being leaked from a US nuclear submarine and higher-than-usual radiation being detected in the surrounding areas.

Police officers and emergency service workers took people living around the US base to an emergency shelter by bus and checked their clothing for possible contamination.

The city had designated a community center 1.2 kilometers from the base as an emergency shelter.
But after the Fukushima nuclear accident, it named another center, about 2 kilometers away, as the new shelter.

Sasebo used the new shelter to evacuate residents for the drill. However, the city conducted the exercise using a manual drawn up by the central government before the accident. The manual calls for evacuating people from a 500-meter radius of a troubled nuclear submarine.

Thursday, November 10, 2011 15:15 +0900 (JST)