Eyewitness: Nuclear accident test

More than 60 countries have been taking part in an exercise simulating a major accident at a nuclear power station in Romania.

BBC correspondents watched the exercise on the ground at the Cernavoda power station and from the International Atomic Energy Agency control room in Vienna.

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The BBC's Nick Thorpe at Cernavoda nuclear power station, Romania:

A two minutes past six on Wednesday morning, the mayor of Cernavoda, Hansa Gheorghe, received the phone call he had always dreaded the most.

A nuclear accident had taken place at the Cernavoda nuclear power station, only 3km from the centre of his town of 20,000 inhabitants by the river Danube in eastern Romania.

But it was only a test.

Fifty-seven countries and eight international organisations are involved in what is only the second time a major nuclear accident simulation has been staged.

Mr Gheorghe put the emergency plan into operation, summoned a crisis response team and informed the national authorities in Bucharest.

On the streets of Cernovada, police cars broadcast loudspeaker messages telling people to stay in their homes, close their windows and tune into radio and television to await further instructions. They were also told not to drink water or allow their animals to drink it from open sources.

Meanwhile in Bucharest, an emergency response team was established at the national nuclear regulatory authority, within 90 minutes of the mayor's phone call. By mid-morning, Florian Baciu, head of the crisis team in Bucharest, said the test was going quite well.

"All the communication channels are open and all the necessary authorities have been informed. I think we're on the right track," he said.

Police presence

Back at Cernavoda, the mayor identified the first problem. While the distribution of iodine tablets had gone well at schools and workplaces, local doctors had not distributed tablets to households as efficiently as had been hoped.

It's now 13 hours after the accident.

Situated in an area of low hills on the shore of the Danube canal, the power station consists of five squat concrete blocks, but with just one reactor in operation.

There is a noticeably larger police presence on approach roads to the plant with officers dressed in distinctive yellow protective clothing, and I can see in several places radiation monitoring equipment, which reassuringly points to zero.

Despite the warnings, people are trying to carry on with their normal lives.

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The BBC's Bethany Bell at IAEA headquarters in Vienna:

At 1300 GMT, nuclear safety officials from the IAEA's Incident and Emergency Centre gathered for the hourly briefing on the simulated accident at the Romanian Cernavoda nuclear power plant.

The centre has been on red alert since the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Moldova may be affected already and it may reach Ukraine in three hours Test weather report

A member of the technological team reads out the latest weather reports. The wind is now blowing towards the northwest.

"It looks like Moldova and Ukraine will be affected by the radioactive release. Moldova may be affected already and it may reach Ukraine in three hours."

The acting Emergency Response Officer, Marty Hug, turns to the liaison officer.

"Can we prepare a message to both of those countries to inform them that they need to be proceeding with environmental sampling at this time?"

Twenty-five people are on shift in the three small offices that make up the Incident and Emergency Centre at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna.

Updates

It's their job to gather reports about the accident. That information has to be double-checked and then sent out around the world.

Their key tools are eight industrial-sized fax machines, a battery of phones and computers as well as a large presentation screen with all the latest updates.

As the exercise continues, a diplomatic problem arises. Moldova's breakaway region of Trans-Dniestr has requested advice and assistance, but Moldova has not. How is the agency to respond?

Consultations continue. There is talk of bringing in the European security body, the OSCE.

Accurate information can mean the difference between a successful and a failed evacuation. In a nuclear emergency, no-one wants panic to break out.