Photo/Illutration Inspectors screen a private vehicle for radioactive substances in Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture, in a nuclear disaster drill on Oct. 29. (Sho Hatsumi)

Residents said their safety concerns have still not been addressed following a three-day government-led drill simulating a serious accident at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture.

They said the drill, which concluded on Oct. 29, showed that there are no measures in place to ensure a smooth evacuation in heavy snow or to prevent traffic congestion caused by radiation checks.

Around 1,400 residents joined the drill, which assumed a magnitude-7.6 earthquake off the prefecture caused a loss of cooling functions at reactors of the plant, which is operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.

This was the first government-run drill at the seven-reactor Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant since the 2011 disaster at TEPCO’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

At the end of last year, main evacuation routes, including in Kashiwazaki, where the plant is located, were closed for up to 52 hours due to heavy snowfall.

During the drill on Oct. 28, only a tabletop exercise was conducted for heavy snow.

Participants said the drill simply confirmed such measures as remaining indoors when it’s difficult to evacuate and how to carry out snow removal operations.

During a possible nuclear disaster, residents evacuating from within a 30-kilometer radius of the nuclear plant must undergo screening to ensure radiation levels are within the standard limits.

It takes one minute to measure the radiation levels on one vehicle, according to the prefectural government’s estimates.

The estimates also say it would take up to 134 hours for 90 percent of residents between a 5- and 30-km radius of the plant to arrive at the screening sites.

On Oct. 29, when residents “evacuated” by car in the drill, the screening process took around three minutes per vehicle.

“(The estimates) are not in line with the actual situation. I think this kind of drill is useless,” a male participant said.

According to the Cabinet Office, the central and local governments, as well as nuclear power plant operators, jointly conduct such drills roughly once a year around autumn.

The purpose is to confirm coordination among related authorities, check procedures outlined in manuals and verify evacuation plans.

(This article was written by Yasuo Tomatsu and Sho Hatsumi.)

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