§ Mr. Barronasked the Secretary of State for Energy, further to his reply to the hon. Member for Rother Valley on 4 December, Official Report, column 740, whether the exercises observed by Her Majesty's nuclear installations inspectorate at each named power station included full exercises performed by all shifts and teams at the station; what proportion of duly authorised persons was observed in the performance of full exercises; what proportion of other personnel was observed in the performance of full exercises; whether the content and duration of exercises observed varied between shifts and teams; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Goodlad[pursuant to his reply, 16 December 1986, c. 477]: The timing and exercising of those staff with direct responsibilities for dealing with an emergency is carried out routinely at power stations, and there is a statutory 620W requirement for emergency arrangements to be fully rehearsed regularly. In practice this means at least once a year at each location. A different shift is chosen each time for these exercises which are witnessed by Her Majesty's nuclear installations inspectorate. For operational reasons, it is only possible for a proportion of the staff on any shift to participate in an exercise.