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VERSION:2.0
PRODID:icalendar-ruby
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
X-WR-CALNAME:Cobalt Magnet exercise provides helpful training to Indiana ag
 encies
X-WR-TIMEZONE:Indiana (East)
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260913T225803Z
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_49479674019294
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250424
DESCRIPTION:Eleven northern Indiana counties are within 50 miles of commerc
 ial 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 coul
 d happen if the wind conditions were just right to spread radiation over n
 ortheastern Indiana from the plant near Detroit\, piggybacking on the Coba
 lt Magnet 25 international exercise occurring in Michigan and Canada at th
 e same time.\n\nIDHS\, the Indiana State Board of Animal Health and the In
 diana Department of Environmental Management engaged the EMA directors of 
 Allen\, DeKalb and Steuben counties as well as their local healthcare syst
 em providers\, health departments and first responders. IDHS Radiation sta
 ff taught about the basics of radiation and gave background on the scenari
 o\, then the group discussed together what would need to happen from the e
 arly stages of a developing power plant incident through to a full-blown e
 mergency with far-reaching effects.\n\n“We all realize that in an event 
 like this\, that we would not be able to perform alone. We are stronger wh
 en we rely on the shared strengths and knowledge of each other\,” said S
 teuben County EMA Director Lee Greenamyer.\n\nGreenamyer learned that reso
 urces are available at both the state and federal level to assist the resp
 onse\, good communication between all stakeholders involved is essential a
 nd there would need to be a unified message to the public.\n\n“This woul
 d include controlling the narrative that the public is getting\, vetting f
 alse information that is being spread and providing timely\, accurate info
 rmation from trusted sources to remain credible to our public. We do not w
 ant to lose the public’s trust\,” he said.\n\nThe IDHS Radiation staff
  provided a just-in-time training on how to use radiation detection equipm
 ent\, then sent three teams out into the counties to practice. Following i
 nstructional 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.\n\nGreenamyer said it was a bit of
  a challenge\, as they faced windy conditions\, yet it was still an invalu
 able learning experience.\n\n“A takeaway from this training for me is th
 e importance of the involvement of local responders and their shared knowl
 edge of the area being tested. My colleagues were not familiar with the ar
 ea\, so I was also serving as navigator as we traveled\,” Greenamyer sai
 d. “It was an experience that I was happy to participate in and would en
 courage others to do. When we consider that teams may be coming from all a
 reas 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.”\n\n
 Participant feedback will prove beneficial as IDHS improves its procedures
  ahead of a FEMA-graded exercise with Ingestion Pathway counties and Illin
 ois in 2028. IDHS Radiological Emergency Preparedness (REP) Manager Leksi 
 King said she knew the state’s REP plan needed revisions and the exercis
 e was successful in bringing the plan into the light so others could contr
 ibute to those changes.\n\n“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 ev
 ery county to have its own plan for a nuclear power plant emergency so we 
 can get everyone on the same page.”\n\nFollowing the tabletop and sampli
 ng drills in Ashley\, several members of the IDHS Radiation staff traveled
  to Michigan to join their teammates already playing in the official Cobal
 t Magnet exercise. They served in the master control cell\, used a virtual
  reality simulator\, watched the Federal Radiological Monitoring and Asses
 sment Center (FRMAC) in action and more.\n\nIDHS 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 plac
 es and even forced him to simulate driving for hours to actual locations.\
 n\nRadiological and Nuclear Detection Specialist Fernando Flores-Carlos an
 d King went to Ypsilanti and saw the Federal Radiological Monitoring and A
 ssessment Center (FRMAC) in action. There\, experts in data analysis coord
 inated with exercise players taking samples in the field\, with a sampling
  laboratory functioning on site as well.\n\nOn the final day of the exerci
 se King and Eckstein relieved IDHS Health Physicist Kevin Stahl from his d
 uties as the Indiana state liaison at the Michigan SEOC. The Indiana liais
 on position was a new concept\, and Eckstein said it was an overwhelming s
 uccess thanks to Stahl’s efforts. Both states now plan to have an Indian
 a representative in the Michigan SEOC for nuclear power plant incidents.\n
 \n “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.”
LOCATION:
SUMMARY:Cobalt Magnet exercise provides helpful training to Indiana agencie
 s
URL;VALUE=URI:https://events.in.gov/event/cobalt-magnet-25-helpful-for-indi
 ana-agencies
CATEGORIES:News
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR