The dress rehearsal was last week, and Monday was the graded practice.
Several area emergency response agencies, including the Cole County Hazmat Team, Jefferson City Fire Department, Lincoln Police Department and the Missouri Highway Patrol, have been working for the last two-three months preparing for a drill after an accident at the Callaway County Nuclear Plant.
Members of these agencies took special training on radiation detection in case there was a release of radiation from the plant.
At Monday's exercise, held at Jason Gym on the Lincoln University campus, members were graded on how they used handheld instruments to check radiation, how they used protective clothing, making sure vehicles don't have radiation on them and if they do, that they are properly cleaned and re-checked.
"Montgomery, Callaway, Osage and Gasconade counties are the primary counties around the plant and they have to test emergency responses every year," said Cole County/Jefferson City Emergency Management Director Bill Farr. "Cole County is called a reception area, so if something happened at the plant calling for an evacuation we could take those people."
Farr said they also have to be checked to make sure that they have their family services and Red Cross procedures in place to help evacuees.
"We have to be checked out on this every six to eight years," he said. "A lot of the equipment we use for this is stored at Jason Gym. It's our designated site for a situation like this so if we need it we pull it out and it's ready to go. It's been this way for many years, because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires it to be in a specific place in case of a release."
Officials with FEMA said it could be over a month before the final grades would be sent out.
NRC tabs new inspector for Callaway plant
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has selected Steve Janicki as its resident inspector at the Callaway Nuclear Plant.
Janicki joined the NRC in 2015 as a project engineer in the Division of Reactor Projects in Region IV. He has completed resident inspector rotations at Columbia Generating Station, Fort Calhoun and Comanche Peak nuclear power plants while working on his qualifications as an inspector. He has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Arizona and is a veteran of the U.S. Navy where he served aboard the USS Wyoming nuclear submarine.
Each U.S. commercial nuclear power plant has at least two resident inspectors. Janicki will work with Senior Resident Inspector Dan Bradley at Callaway.
They conduct inspections, monitor plant operations and significant work projects, and interact with plant employees and the public.