Report of Mission to Hong Kong to Assist in Preparation for Exercise of Hong Kong Daya Bay Contingency Plan from
23-26 February, 1993.
From: Mr. B. Weiss, NENS, IAEA
SUMMARY
At the request of the Hong Kong government, the Technical Officer for this project, B. Weiss and J. Jamison, US emergency planning expert, worked several days with Hong Kong authorities, particularly the Security Branch to:
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Review preparations and documents for the second exercise of the Hong Kong Daya Bay Contingency Plan (DBCP) and provide an assessment of those activities;
Review the latest draft of the DBCP and providing comments and suggested changes for modifying the document.
The Security Branch of the Hong Kong Government has the primary responsibility for emergency planning and preparedness for all types of emergencies that might affect Hong Kong, including an impact from the Daya Bay Nuclear Station located about 13 kilometers from the nearest Hong Kong Territory.
The first comprehensive exercise of the DBCP was held in November 1990. (The two experts on this mission observed that exercise and provided an assessment.) Since that time, there has been an effort to upgrade and modify the DBCP based on the exercise. A second comprehensive exercise of the DBCP is scheduled for mid-May 1993. The Agency experts met with the Hong Kong exercise planning staff and addressed their specific technical concerns relating to the simulated nuclear accident and the preparation for the exercise.
The two experts were also provided with copies of the newly revised DBCP upon their arrival in Hong Kong following a mission to the Daya Bay Nuclear Station. In general, they found that the plan is quite comprehensive and considers all the major aspects that would be needed to respond to an emergency that could impact Hong Kong. There were a few areas that the experts suggested some changes. These were:
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Need to clearly define the different response levels identified in the DBCP; and
Modification of the pre-determined protective actions for the Mirs Bay area.
On the final day of the mission the two experts drafted specific suggested changes to the DBCP. In addition, the experts met with members of the Royal Observatory to discuss their role in the DBCP and the exercise as the operators of the Monitoring and Assessment Center.
It was observed that the DBCP has undergone considerable refinement since the initial exercise in November 1990. This is now a much more practical and reasonable plan. The experts also concluded that the preparation for the May 1993 exercise are progressing quite well.