An emergency exercise at the Sellafield plant on Thursday has been dubbed “an irrelevant PR sham” by anti-nuclear campaigners.

Marianne Birkby of Radiation Free Lakeland said: “This exercise has everything to do with the appearance of the authorities being in control and nothing to do with the safety of Cumbrians.”

RFL believe there is no place in nuclear safety for Public Relations exercises that bear no relevance to the real dangers.

The plant's sirens will be sounded and increased emergency service vehicles will be in the area during the drill, named Oscar 9, on Thursday.

Two schools in Whitehaven are to act as mock response centres for evacuees and the media.

The West Cumbria Emergency Control Centre near Whitehaven will also play a central role in the exercise.

The drill is staged at Sellafield every three years.

Mike Smyth, of Cumbria County Council, said: "This county has been at the forefront of developing plans for dealing with emergency situations for many years, including an incident at Sellafield.

"These exercises are held every three years and provide not only an opportunity to test the plans but also provide an opportunity for many of the agencies to meet and work together to enhance their effectiveness in response to a major incident."

But Radiation Free Lakeland say it is possible that if there were to be such an emergency, the radioactive cloud would contaminate the area between Glasgow and Liverpool – resulting in the death of over two million people.

Such emergencies could be caused by an attack, and accidental plane crash or a plant failure.  All of these are realistic possibilities.  ,

The resultant cloud of contamination would spread contamination far and wide across North -West Britain and the fallout could kill over two million people.

RFL said in a statement: “Thursday’s paltry ‘Emergency Exercise’ involving the absolute minimal fraction of the population that would be likely to be affected by a real Site Emergency is obviously an irrelevant PR Sham.

“This exercise has everything to do with the appearance of the authorities being in control and nothing to do with the safety of Cumbrians.  There is no place in nuclear safety for Public Relations exercises that bear no relevance to the real dangers.  As a matter of urgency Sellafield must implement the practical measures essential to protect the Public.”

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