Today St. Mary’s County participated in an emergency operations drill called CALVEX (short for Calvert Exelon) that is run every two years. The scenario differs every time, but it always centers around a hypothetical accident at the nuclear power plant. During the last CALVEX drill, I sat in the room as an observer. It was my first time seeing our Emergency Operations Center in action, but little did I know I would see it in action on a weekly basis as we went through the COVID pandemic. This time I participated in the drill as the Commissioner representative–when the Commissioner President is out of town, it falls to the Vice President, and since they were both out of town, I was able to sit in. It was a fascinating experience and an incredibly important practice. One of the interesting things about this drill is that communities near nuclear power plants across our country tend to be better prepared for any type of emergency because they do these drills on a regular basis.
The drill starts off like a normal work day. Everyone is at their jobs and waits until they are notified that the Emergency Operations Center has been activated. Once the email or text messages come through, all of the participants gather and the scenario has begun. There were representatives from St. Mary’s County Public Schools, the Health Department, Maryland State Highway Administration, Recreation and Parks, our Public Information Office, Sheriff’s Office, State Troopers, Department of Aging and Human Services, and Department of Social Services (and I’m probably missing a few!). Each representative has their assigned seat and place around the room and individual phone lines. The walls of the EOC (Emergency Operations Center) are both white board and magnetized, so messages and relevant information is constantly updated.
The scenario began with a “Site Emergency” where there was a known issue at the power plant, but at the outset there was no radiation being leaked. As it progressed to a “General Emergency” there was hypothetical degradation with radiation leaks. Periodic phone calls would happen between the emergency managers of Calvert, St. Mary’s and Dorchester Counties and the Maryland Department of Health and Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). That is part of what makes this drill so incredible, it is coordinated between multiple counties and state agencies simultaneously.
As the drill progressed, we issued a State of Emergency for the county, approved multiple press releases to keep relevant information flow to the public and coordinated with multiple stakeholders. It reached the level where we encouraged Potassium Iodide (KI) pill consumption for certain zones and livestock to be sheltered in doors. At the worst of the drill there was a hypothetical plane crash on Route 235 that caused a sink hole and hit a gas line and required traffic to be diverted a different route. The Thomas Johnson bridge was already closed and being used as an evacuation route for Calvert citizens, so this definitely caused some quick reactions and problem solving!
One of the big takeaways that I noticed was the importance of ensuring factual and accurate information flow. At every phone conference and throughout the process multiple people were recording information on the same sheets and confirming information before anything was finalized. It highlighted the importance of getting accurate information from the right sources. Throughout the entire drill there were multiple FEMA evaluators monitoring the actions being taken and writing down notes. They will compile a report of our performance and offer areas of improvement. The biggest takeaway for me, though, is the seamless cooperation that I’ve seen time and again from all of the people in the room and on the phones. When an emergency hits, everyone works together to protect our citizens and save lives and I’m always impressed with what an awesome job our people do.
