PEOPLE living near Oldbury Nuclear Power Station have been reassured there is a plan should anything ever go wrong.

According to Magnox, which runs the 40-year-old plant, and South Gloucestershire Council’s emergency planning unit, there is a detailed plan of co-ordinated action for all the local emergency services.

Speaking at a recent Oldbury Site Stakeholder meeting, where members of the public get to talk to representatives from the nuclear industry, Guy Astley-Jones, from the local authority’s emergency planning unit, said all worst case scenarios had been thought of and rehearsed for.

He said: "There is one single document that you can go into and find out what the ambulance service would do or the fire service.

"The operator (Magnox) has to tell us what is the potential for things going wrong on this site and the Nuclear Installations Inspector (NII) checks it.

"We then have to draw up a plan and test it within three years. This will sometimes involve a major demonstration involving everyone from local government to central government.

"All the risk assessments are based on a reasonable credible accident."

South Gloucestershire Council, as the local authority, is required by law to have a plan of how it would handle a nuclear emergency within the district.

The council has to co-ordinate how all the different organisations would respond, including Magnox, police, fire, ambulance, Health and Safety Executive, the Environment Agency and the Food Standards Agency.

However, should anything happen the response would be led by a senior police officer from Avon and Somerset.

In September last year more than 150 people were involved in an exercise at Avon and Somerset’s Police headquarters called Operation Thornbury, practising the local response in the event of a nuclear incident.

Alison Chapman, from Oldbury Power Station, said members of Avon Fire Service also trained at the site to familiarise themselves with the plant should they ever be called in an emergency.

As well as emergency services South Gloucestershire Council also works closely with neighbouring authorities, North Somerset and Gloucestershire, where there are other nuclear power stations, and Monmouthshire.