Multi-agency exercise to test response to a major incident at Devonport Dockyard
Residents in Plymouth signed up to the emergency notification service will receive a test message today
Last updated 9th May 2022
A text or phone message alert is to be sent to thousands of residents in Plymouth as part of a routine training exercise to test how agencies would work together in the unlikely event of a major incident at Devonport Dockyard.
The test message will be sent to residents signed up to the emergency notification service - managed by Plymouth City Council - to provide public information in the event of an incident at the site, which supports nuclear powered submarines for the Royal Navy.
Everyone registered on the system will receive a test message today (Monday 9 May).
Those signed up to receive messages about the city’s two other sites with emergency plans - the two fuel terminals in Cattedown and the Defence Munitions site in Ernesettle - will also receive test messages.
Those receiving the test message will not need to take any action.
The messages are just one method for warning and informing the public in the event of a major incident at the dockyard, which is a regulated site overseen by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).
The plans for dealing with the unlikely event of a major incident are set out in the Devonport Off-site Emergency Plan, which outlines how the City Council, MoD, Babcock International, the emergency services, the UK Health Security Agency and other responding agencies, would work together to protect the public.
The plans include how the public would be informed about an incident and kept updated on any action they might need to take.
Residents living in the Detailed Emergency Planning Zone, which extends 1.5km from the submarine berths, receive a booklet about what to do in the event of a nuclear emergency, which is updated every few years.
Residents living near the dockyard will also be familiar with the emergency siren, which is tested at 11.30am every Monday morning.
The emergency plans are tested regularly through ‘Short Sermon’ exercises conducted by the full range of agencies that would be involved in an emergency response.
This year’s exercise, which is being held over a number of separate days during May and June, will test how quickly and effectively multiple agencies are notified, how the public would be informed and kept up to date, decision making and communication around public health and environmental issues and how recovery from an incident would be managed.
As part of the public protection measures, the exercise will also test how personnel from the Devonport site would deliver stable iodine tablets to nearby households that might be affected. These tablets would be issued as one of the measures taken to help protect people’s health.
This part of the exercise is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 14 June when some households will receive a simulated stable iodine tablet delivery through their door. They will not need to take any action.
The purpose of the tablets and other protective measures is explained in the booklet that is distributed to homes in the Detailed Emergency Planning Zone. The booklet is also available on the City Council’s website.
Ruth Harrell, Director of Public Health for Plymouth, said: "Plymouth residents are familiar with the weekly test of the dockyard siren on Monday mornings but there are also extensive plans for dealing with the unlikely event of a nuclear emergency at Devonport and these are regularly tested. This year different parts of the exercise will be carried out during May and June.
"We will also be testing the emergency notification system and anyone who is not yet signed up for the free alerts still has time to do so before we test it. There’s information about how to do this on the Council’s website, where you can also find the off-site emergency plan and the public information booklet explaining what to do in the event of an emergency."
Ruth Harrell - Director of Public Health for Plymouth
To sign up for the free emergency text notifications visit: https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/emergencies