Purpose

Proposed Decision
 
TheCabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services to agree
to:
 

1. 
The Reduction to the Detailed Emergency Planning
zone (DEPZ) for offsite emergency planning for the Dungeness B
Nuclear Power Station.
 

2. 
Amendments to Kent County Councils Offsite Emergency
Plan to reflect the reduction in risk around the site, following
the defueling of the Dungeness B Nuclear Power Station, to reflect
current planning assumptions.
 
 
Reason for the decision
Kent
County Council (KCC) is responsible for Offsite Emergency Planning
for the Dungeness B Nuclear Power Station, including the
responsibility for determining a Detailed Emergency Planning Zone
(DEPZ) around the power station. This is based on the
operator’s recommendation (EDF). The zone identifies an area
where urgent protective actions may be needed in the event of a
radiation emergency. Due to defueling operations at the power
station (as part of the decommissioning process), EDF are now
recommending a reduction in the size of the DEPZ.
 
Background
For
evacuation, EDF have assessed that a distance of less than
200m from the centre of Dungeness B’s
reactor building is sufficient. This distance does not extend
off-site onto public access land, and therefore evacuation is not
recommended as an urgent protective action in the DEPZ. However,
some residents and visitors to the area may choose to evacuate, and
therefore arrangements will need to be made to shelter those
people, should the need arise.
 
For
sheltering, EDF have assessed that a distance of up to 300m from
the centre of Dungeness B’s reactor building is sufficient.
Even allowing for a release arising from elsewhere in the reactor
building (rather than its centre), a distance of 300m would only
affect areas close to the Dungeness site fence, notably the public
beach to the south of the site. The closest dwellings (the Royal
Naval Shore Signal Stations (RNSSS) cottages) are 300m from the
northeast corner of the Dungeness B fence, or around 500m from the
centre of the reactor building.
 
In
defining the new DEPZ boundary, KCC have used geographic features
such as roads and footpaths, an approach which complies with
the Radiation Emergency Preparedness and
Public Information Regulations (REPPIR) 19 regulations. The size of the
current DEPZ is 13.62km2 which was previously agreed
by Environment and Transport Cabinet
Committee. The reduction of  the size of the DEPZ from 13.62km2 to
7.88km2, will still allow KCC to consider protective
actions to the wider public who live in, or who are visiting
Dungeness.
 
Options (other options considered but discarded)

·        
Do nothing.
Keeping
the current DEPZ would keep a large Detailed Emergency Planning
Zone that is not required due to the reduction in risk due to the
decommissioning works at the power station.
 
How the proposed decision supports the

Framing Kent's Future - Our Council
Strategy 2022-2026
The
decision concerns the provision of infrastructure for the community
in the event of an emergency and forms part of KCC’s role in
making Kent’s communities safe.
 
How the
proposed decision supports Securing Kent’s Future 2022
-2026:
Securing Kents Future - Budget Recovery
Strategy.pdf
The
decision results from a review of an existing Dungeness B Offsite
Emergency Plan which will support local residents and provide
multi-agency responders with the current risk around the Dungeness
B Nuclear Power Station.
 
 

Decision

Decision: Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services to agree
to:
 

APPROVE The
Reduction to the Detailed Emergency Planning Zone (DEPZ) for
offsite emergency planning for the Dungeness B Nuclear Power
Station. 

APPROVE the
amendments to Kent County Council’s Offsite Emergency Plan to
reflect the reduction in risk around the site, following the
defueling of the Dungeness B Nuclear Power Station, to reflect
current planning assumptions. 

DELEGATE authority to the Director of Infrastructure in their capacity as
strategic lead for Resilience & Emergency Planning, in
consultation with the Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory
Services, to take decisions on the future size of the DEPZ.