What you need to know about the large-scale nuclear exercise at the Cherbourg naval base in November

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L’national nuclear security exercise predominantly civil security of November 14 and 15, 2024 to the naval base and city of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (Manche) mainly aims to test crisis organization of the Ministry of Defense and public authorities in the event of an event likely to result in radiological emergency situation.

A public meeting

It is part of the continuity of lots of workouts regularly organized around nuclear installations, and in particular the military port.

In order to present the broad outlines of this level 4 exercise, a public information meeting took place this Monday, November 4 at Chantereyne Circle jointly chaired by Vice-Admiral Benoît de Guibert, maritime prefect of the Channel and the North Sea, and Xavier Brunetière, prefect of the Channel.

Real-life simulation

The precise scenario is not known to different civil and military actors.

On November 14, the exercise will take place within the confines of the naval base so that the French Navy can implement its internal emergency plan.

Then, secondly, the Special Intervention Plan (PPI) will be triggered by the Manche prefect.

The initiating event will be simulated at a secret basic nuclear facility you Homet (Editor's note belonging to the General Directorate of Armaments), dedicated to dismantling of submarines nuclear powered.

Three years ago, during the last financial year, a fire on board the nuclear attack submarine Duguay-Trouin had been simulated.

An operational center in Saint-Lô

THE command structures put in place by the military authority will this time again aim, on the one hand, to “ limit the consequences of the event on people and the environment ”, and on the other hand to “allow the installations to return to a safe state”.

No information at the moment on start time of exercise. We know that an operational center will be set up in the prefecture premises in Saint-Lô.

Of the potentially injured or contaminated personnelcould be evacuated to competent hospitals .

Two areas of action have been identified: a radius of reflex sheltering2 kilometers or maximum immediate evacuation likely to be decided immediately by the prefect; the other, wider (2 to 5 km).

Raise public awareness

Firefighters, gendarmes, police, radiological protection, prefecture, emergency services and communities will be heavily mobilized with the establishment of a security perimeter .

A communication boxwill also play the role of the media . In addition to personnel from the naval base and Naval Group, residents of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin are also invited to participate.

The objective of this exercise is also to test our ability to inform and raise awareness among residents. It will remind the population of the actions to take as well as the good reflexes to adopt in the event of an alert.

The prefecture will also test the implementation of the “FR-Alert” system by sending a message on mobile phones of all people located within a 5 km radius of the naval base.

The prefect will also call on the radio media to transmit regularly to the population safety instructions. Finally, note that the Cachin collegewill take part in the simulation .

The daytime of November 15 will be more particularly devoted to the post-accident management of the event in the form workshops or training.

In particular, members of the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) will be involved for a presentation of decontamination equipment et gendarmesof the national NRBC unit of Versailles-Satory specialized ininvestigations in contaminated environments.

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