Evacuation drill held in event of nuclear accident at TEPCO Niigata plant

NIIGATA, Japan (Kyodo) -- On Saturday, Niigata Prefecture and the village near Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant conducted a drill to evacuate residents via helicopter in the event of a nuclear accident. The drill scenario envisioned a magnitude 6 earthquake striking the region, causing liquefaction, landslides, and traffic disruptions that would isolate parts of the village.

The No. 6 reactor, which had recently resumed commercial operation after a 14-year hiatus, was presumed to have automatically shut down and lost cooling, similar to the situation at Fukushima Daiichi in 2011. Eight helicopters and other means were utilized to transport 14 residents designated as isolated to a transit point in Murakami, where they would be temporarily housed during a large-scale evacuation.

This marked the eighth helicopter drill and the first since the plant's restart. TEPCO, the operator of both the Fukushima and Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plants, oversees the disaster at the latter.