Japan's Annual Nuclear Drill Highlights Problems

AmiMoJo writes The Japanese government's disaster drill for nuclear power plants has highlighted some issues. The 2-day drill began on Sunday on the scenario that an earthquake had triggered an accident at the Shika plant in Ishikawa Prefecture. A group of residents gathered at a port to flee in boats on the assumption that the earthquake had made roads unusable. But the sea was too rough to sail, and officials had not considered an alternative in case of bad weather. Participating organizations were connected via a video link, but there were problems with the sound. Officials at the Toyama Prefectural government office could not hear part of the evacuation order.

Comments

Good job.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like the drill successfully identified some process issues that can now be corrected. Good work.

Re:Good job.

[thaiceman]

The first post is actually useful and made by an AC, there is reason to stick around /. not all is lost yet.

On a more serious note the AC hit the nail on the head, the point of doing test drills is to identify problems so they can be addressed before a bunch of people die or get irradiated so bad that they glow in the dark.

Re:Disaster preparedness

[CrimsonAvenger]

So, the whole operation began with an ASSumption that the roads were impassable? Maybe Plan B or Plan C should have arranged for these people to make their way BY FOOT and ACROSS COUNTRY to some other assembly point?

If you're actually worried about fallout from a nuclear accident, and the roads were impassable, then the most likely correct answer is "Stay in your homes. Close all windows and doors."

Which gives the authorities several days to sort things out and arrange a proper evacuation.