KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Region VII, announced today the state of Iowa, Clinton County, Iowa, and Scott County, Iowa, will participate with Exelon Corporation in a one-day exercise on December 5, 2012, then host a public meeting to explain exercise processes on December 7, 2012, in support of the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station.

The routine exercise will test the ability of the state of Iowa, the utility, and the participating counties to protect the health and safety of the public living in the vicinity of the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station, located on the east side of the Mississippi River, near Cordova, Illinois.

The exercise is a biennial requirement to determine the adequacy of the state and local radiological emergency preparedness and response plans. It will require the activation of emergency facilities by the participating state and local officials. The activities of the state, county and local units of government will be observed and evaluated by the FEMA Region VII Radiological Emergency Preparedness (REP) Program. The Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station on-site performance will be observed and evaluated by officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

On Friday, December 7, 2012, a public meeting will be held at 11:00 a.m. (CST) in the Scott County Emergency Management Agency facility, located at 1100 East 46th Street, Davenport, Iowa. The purpose of the meeting is to describe and explain the full-scale response exercise process. However, because the process of evaluating the full-scale response exercise will take months, only preliminary findings which are very limited in scope can be shared during the meeting.

Representatives from FEMA Region VII will chair the meeting and explain the exercise process. 

EDITOR’S NOTE: For information about the Illinois public meeting for this exercise, please contact Patti Thompson, Communications Manager, Illinois Emergency Management Agency, at 217-557-4756.

Visit FEMA Region VII online, at http://www.fema.gov/region-vii-ia-ks-mo-ne  Follow FEMA on social media, at www.twitter.com/femaregion7, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema.  Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema.  The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.