All owners of nuclear power plants must have emergency plans.
These plans allow workers and people who live near the plants to know how to handle emergencies.
Federal, state and local governments work together in case people need to be evacuated or other actions taken to protect local residents.
All nuclear power plants practice regular drills (think a really important fire drill at your school) on a regular basis.
These drills simulate a serious accident to test the emergency plan.
Since the Three Mile Island accident, many changes have made nuclear power plants safer.
Reactor operators are trained to handle emergencies using computer simulators.
The NRC emergency operations center is open 24 hours a day every day so we are always ready if something happens.
The NRC has inspectors at each plant and collects more information from the owners of plants so we can make the right safety decisions.
Source: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students.html
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