Sandy shares good practice
Sandy Baptie, Emergency Planning, Risk and Resilience Manager, has recently returned from the republic of Korea where he was an invited speaker at the 3rd Kijang Forum – ‘For safety and prosperity of Nuclear Power Plant cities’. 
The forum gathers representatives from cities and areas around the world with nuclear installations and the participants share experiences of the major issues related to nuclear power and the course of its future development for their local communities.
Sandy said: “I was invited to take part to detail East Lothian Council’s role in managing and supporting EDF Energy and other agencies involved in the successful production of energy from Torness power station. This was not simply an event to share best practice in emergency planning, though that is clearly important, but also a recognition of the economic benefits a nuclear power station can bring.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed meeting representatives from the USA, Canada, Finland, Japan, Ukraine and the Republic of Korea and hearing about their experiences of nuclear power plants in their areas. Whilst it was distressing to hear about the circumstances and effects of the Fukushima incident it was also very encouraging to share the positive experiences of modern plants and the extremely robust safety measures now employed as standard.”
Sandy was accompanied by Provost John McMillan who added his signature to a joint communique for the ‘sustainable development of nuclear power plant cities.’ John added: “East Lothian is able to clearly demonstrate that the presence of a nuclear power station doesn’t reduce the economic vibrancy of an area. Fellow participants were eager to learn more about the range of golf courses, our strong food and drink producers and the beauty of the county’s natural environment. The Republic of Korea was an incredible country to visit and our hosts provided a generous welcome and many industry friendships were established.”
The invitation to the Kijang Forum followed a review and visit earlier this year by the Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) from the International Atomic Energy Agency to Torness Power Station and to the newly refurbished Torness Strategic Coordination Centre (TSCC) at Penston House, Macmerry.
Sandy added: “The OSART member who visited the TSCC was extremely complimentary about the facility, partnership working and the safety emergency response processes in place.”