Radiological Emergency Planning

As the majority of Chesterfield is located within the ten-mile Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) for the Vermont Yankee nuclear power station, your OEM team is trained to deal with the unlikely event of a radiological emergency. This includes a series of drills and exercises every two years, which are evaluated by both the State and FEMA. Chesterfield’s emergency team earns consistently high marks for their performance in these simulated emergencies.

This regular training and testing, along with well-established lines of communication between the utility, the states and the local communities, assures that we are as well prepared as possible to deal with any radiological or other mishap.

In fact, rather than putting us at risk, our proximity to the nuclear facility has strengthened our community’s overall planning and response capabilities. We see repeatedly in our contacts with other communities around the state how much better prepared the EPZ towns are for any type of emergency.

Inclusion in the planning zone also provides residents with additional emergency alerting resources. These include weather-alert radios, available through the town; the recently installed sirens at the three local fire stations and the town Highway Dept. garage; and access to the RENTS “reverse 911” automated telephone alerting system. For more information on public alerting, click here.

The calendar provided annually by Vermont Yankee to all households in town is also an excellent source of information for any emergency situation. We recommend that all residents read this material carefully and retain it for their reference.