A man is checked for contamination on his hands and feet before having his vehicle rinsed off at a high-powered car wash during a nuclear reception centre exercise held recently at Durham College.
The north end of Durham College's Oshawa campus recently played host to a slew of emergency officials from a variety of organizations as the Region of Durham conducted a nuclear reception centre exercise in preparation for the unlikely event of a nuclear emergency.
The half-day exercise took place on Thursday, June 14 and saw the practice and evaluation of the operating procedures of a nuclear reception centre designed to protect community members in the case of a radiological release during an emergency at Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) Pickering nuclear generating station. Many people took part in the event playing roles such as evacuees, counsellors, security personnel and first-aid responders.
"Similar exercises occur every year in different locations," said Dan Salter, co-ordinator of Durham Region Emergency Services. "The reception centre at Durham College would likely be fully operational within four hours and could assist up to 8,000 evacuees."
Upon arriving at the on-campus reception centre, evacuees were instructed to visit the first station, where emergency personnel checked their vehicles, hands and feet for contamination using a radiation detection metre. Next, they drove through a high-powered car wash to rid their vehicles of contamination. At a third station, they were rechecked for contamination on their vehicle, hands and feet. If necessary, they were then instructed to go through the car wash again, followed by a third contamination check. If still contaminated, they were given a ticket and told to board a bus for transportation to the Campus Athletic Centre.
Inside one of the gymnasiums housed inside the Campus Athletic Centre they (and their pets, if applicable) were further decontaminated and asked to register to receive confirmation that they were clean.
Stations set up in the gym included a vehicle status desk, counselling services, the Salvation Army, security, the Red Cross, child services and evacuee information including safety instructions and rules.
In the case of an emergency, the reception centre is designed to temporarily assist people by decontaminating them before they evacuate the area, which is why it is able to help such a large number of people.
The Durham Emergency Management Office, Durham Region Social Services and OPG organized the exercise, which also saw representatives from various other organizations participate in the event. These organizations included the Regional Municipality of Durham, the City of Oshawa, the Red Cross, the Oshawa-Whitby Association for Community Living, the Salvation Army, the Ontario Volunteer Emergency Response Team, St. John Ambulance, Enbridge Gas, the Durham District and Durham Catholic District school boards, Durham College and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT).