Govt Ends Nuclear Disaster Drills in Central Japan

Mihama, Fukui Pref., Nov. 6 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government ended a three-day comprehensive nuclear accident drills in Fukui Prefecture on Sunday.

On the final day, residents of seven Fukui municipalities within about 5 to 30 kilometers from Kansai Electric Power Co.'s <9503> Mihama nuclear plant practiced evacuating to areas in or outside the central Japan prefecture by car or bus.

The drills were held on a scenario that an earthquake measuring lower 6, the third-highest level on Japan's seismic intensity scale, occurred in the prefecture's Reinan region Friday afternoon, causing a serious accident at the nuclear plant in the Fukui town of Mihama.

On Sunday, residents of the city of Tsuruga, which borders Mihama, used cars or buses to head for an elementary school in the city of Tenri in Nara Prefecture, western Japan, for evacuation. During the evacuation, drills for a radiation screening test and decontamination were conducted at an expressway service area in the city of Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture, located between Fukui and Nara.

A drill to airlift residents from the Tsuruga Peninsula in Fukui to a large patrol ship using a helicopter was canceled due to a problem with the aircraft's engine.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]