Ontario Power Generation selects PowerTrunk TETRA technology for Fukushima Telecommunication Enhancement Project

On March 11, 2011 a magnitude 9.0 earthquake followed by a tsunami struck the east coast of Japan, causing widespread damage, including a significant loss of safety equipment and a total loss of power at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Following the loss of back-up battery power, internal and external telecommunication links at the station were left either severely crippled or completely severed in the midst of one of the most significant nuclear disasters in our time.

In the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi event, thorough reviews were completed to assess the ability for OPG to respond to a Beyond Design Basis Event (BDBE) at the Darlington and Pickering Nuclear Stations similar to the event at Fukushima. The results of the assessments deemed that the existing telecommunications for on-site and off-site emergency response cannot be relied on being operational in a BDBE since the current telecommunications systems are not sufficiently robust to survive. In order to address this vulnerability to facilitate communication following such an event, PowerTrunk was selected to provide a new Rapid Deployment Disaster Management Communication System.

The decision to go with a TETRA-based emergency communications system was the result thorough research by OPG of different radio technologies, and it was concluded that TETRA’s spectral efficiency, cost, voice quality, and data services provide the best overall solution.

“We are currently experiencing a shift in the local market of professional radio communications network users, whether in the utility, municipal, energy, transport, or public safety sector,“ said David Torres, VP Sales Canada for PowerTrunk. “Agencies in both Canada and the US are realizing what the rest of the world has known for years - that the enhanced voice quality and data functionality provided by TETRA, and PowerTrunk’s world-class quality systems, are the best solution for mission critical or emergency communications.”

This Rapid Deployment Disaster Management Communication System, based on the PowerTrunk-T Deployable Base Station (DBS) equipment, will provide wireless communication throughout the sites, including the reactor buildings, of the two nuclear stations at Darlington and Pickering. It will include seamless radio coverage for all outdoor and indoor areas of the two nuclear facilities necessary to support emergency communications at OPG during a BDBE that results in an extended loss of AC power. The system will also integrate with a satellite communication system to facilitate communications at locations external to the stations.

"PowerTrunk is honored to have been awarded by OPG to provide their Rapid Deployment Emergency Communication System in response to the Fukushima Daiichi disaster," stated Jose Martin, CEO of PowerTrunk. "This complete solution, which will combine PowerTrunk-T deployable base stations, radio terminals, emergency back-up power, disparate network interoperability, and satellite communications, is designed to operate all together under the most dire of circumstances when all else fails."