Nebraska Public Power District’s (NPPD) Cooper Nuclear Station will soon be implementing the use of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) national alert warning system. It may be used to share emergency notifications to mobile devices, and over radio and TV broadcasts.
FEMA’s system is called the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System. Better known as IPAWS, it works by sending local emergency messages to the public through mobile phones using Wireless Emergency Alerts, to radio and television via the Emergency Alert System and also on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Weather Radio. In the case an emergency notification would need to be shared from NPPD about Cooper, IPAWS would send a notification to phones, radios and TVs in a roughly 10-mile radius around the plant. This system is widely used by nuclear operators across the United States as well as other agencies for emergency messages such as tornado warnings or amber alerts.
NPPD currently has sirens installed within a 10-mile radius of the plant that would sound in the case of an emergency. IPAWS will allow for NPPD to transition away from the use of sirens. As a part of the process to implement this system, NPPD will be testing IPAWS throughout the 10-mile radius surrounding the plant to ensure it operates properly. This system is able to notify anyone within the 10-mile radius and does not require anyone to sign up through a specific app or service.
