Exelon to Move Emergency Center from Barstow to Penna.



HOLLYWOOD, Md. (Oct. 20, 2017)—During an incident at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant (CCNPP), Exelon opens the Emergency Operations Facility (EOF) in Barstow. That's about to change. At their Oct. 3 meeting, the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) gave their blessing to Exelon's plan to consolidate EOF functions in Coatesville, Penna.

According to a memo from Emergency Management Division Chief Alfred Jeffrey, III, the EOF is designed to "coordinate the response and recovery efforts to the incident. Both local and state agencies report to this facility to coordinate response, share information and produce public messaging. The main function that the EOF serves for Calvert County is the coordination of public messaging performed by the staff of the Department of Communications and Media Relations (PIO). The PIO along with PIO's from St. Mary's and Dorchester counties coordinate the public message to ensure cohesive messaging is disseminated."

Jeffrey said with the proposed change, "Exelon would like to consolidate the EOF functions for CCNPP and other plants in the state of Pennsylvania into their Coatesville, Penna. facility and use the EOF in Barstow as an alternate EOF."

Jeffrey said Exelon needed commissioner concurrence as part of their request for the change to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

The commissioners were told by Jeffrey, "It is my determination that this move will not have any effect on operations in the Emergency Operations Center to an incident at CCNPP. The only challenge would be to staffing the PIO position at the EOF in Coatesville, Penna. for PIO staff. This challenge can be overcome by using available technology by creating a virtual JIC (Joint Information Center) and coordinating all messaging using that tool."

There was minimal discussion by the BOCC before the unanimous concurrence. Commissioner Vice President Evan Slaughenhoupt, Jr. said, "This is really just making use of available technology by Exelon."

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