Eleven northern Indiana counties are within 50 miles of commercial nuclear power plants in Michigan and Illinois. These Ingestion Pathway counties have established procedures for emergencies at those plants. But that is not the case for counties outside the typical risk zone, so IDHS Radiation fostered an exercise in Ashley, Indiana, to explore what could happen if the wind conditions were just right to spread radiation over northeastern Indiana from the plant near Detroit, piggybacking on the Cobalt Magnet 25 international exercise occurring in Michigan and Canada at the same time.

IDHS, the Indiana State Board of Animal Health and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management engaged the EMA directors of Allen, DeKalb and Steuben counties as well as their local healthcare system providers, health departments and first responders. IDHS Radiation staff taught about the basics of radiation and gave background on the scenario, then the group discussed together what would need to happen from the early stages of a developing power plant incident through to a full-blown emergency with far-reaching effects.

“We all realize that in an event like this, that we would not be able to perform alone. We are stronger when we rely on the shared strengths and knowledge of each other,” said Steuben County EMA Director Lee Greenamyer.

Greenamyer learned that resources are available at both the state and federal level to assist the response, good communication between all stakeholders involved is essential and there would need to be a unified message to the public.

“This would include controlling the narrative that the public is getting, vetting false information that is being spread and providing timely, accurate information from trusted sources to remain credible to our public. We do not want to lose the public’s trust,” he said.

The IDHS Radiation staff provided a just-in-time training on how to use radiation detection equipment, then sent three teams out into the counties to practice. Following instructional guidebooks, they tested milk and soil samples for radiation while they wore PPE and moved thoughtfully to minimize radiation exposure to themselves, supplies and equipment.

Greenamyer said it was a bit of a challenge, as they faced windy conditions, yet it was still an invaluable learning experience.

“A takeaway from this training for me is the importance of the involvement of local responders and their shared knowledge of the area being tested. My colleagues were not familiar with the area, so I was also serving as navigator as we traveled,” Greenamyer said. “It was an experience that I was happy to participate in and would encourage others to do. When we consider that teams may be coming from all areas of the state or region to support, it might be helpful to have some knowledge from locals present to assist in these types of sampling.”

Participant feedback will prove beneficial as IDHS improves its procedures ahead of a FEMA-graded exercise with Ingestion Pathway counties and Illinois in 2028. IDHS Radiological Emergency Preparedness (REP) Manager Leksi King said she knew the state’s REP plan needed revisions and the exercise was successful in bringing the plan into the light so others could contribute to those changes.

“The biggest takeaway for me was seeing what the locals need and being in their communities more often,” said King, who already visits Ingestion Pathway counties monthly. “I would love every county to have its own plan for a nuclear power plant emergency so we can get everyone on the same page.”

Following the tabletop and sampling drills in Ashley, several members of the IDHS Radiation staff traveled to Michigan to join their teammates already playing in the official Cobalt Magnet exercise. They served in the master control cell, used a virtual reality simulator, watched the Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC) in action and more.

IDHS Health Physicist Patrick Turner was in a virtual environment using a computer program called RadSim, which he used to take radiation samples and readings. It used real places and even forced him to simulate driving for hours to actual locations.

Radiological and Nuclear Detection Specialist Fernando Flores-Carlos and King went to Ypsilanti and saw the Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC) in action. There, experts in data analysis coordinated with exercise players taking samples in the field, with a sampling laboratory functioning on site as well.

On the final day of the exercise King and Eckstein relieved IDHS Health Physicist Kevin Stahl from his duties as the Indiana state liaison at the Michigan SEOC. The Indiana liaison position was a new concept, and Eckstein said it was an overwhelming success thanks to Stahl’s efforts. Both states now plan to have an Indiana representative in the Michigan SEOC for nuclear power plant incidents.

 “We’ve cleared up the lines of communication, and going forward it should be great working with them,” Eckstein said. “You get so much work done when sitting together in the same room with all the agencies you’ll need. We now know better how to request anything, and it is easier than I had thought. A lot of connections made.”