People close to Hinkley Point B in Somerset are being asked whether the emergency planning zone round the nuclear plant should be altered.

Currently the zone has a two-mile (3.5 km) radius, which includes Stogursey village and some smaller communities.

But the government has asked local councils to review whether that should change.

Earlier this year, the government changed the law, which means local councils now have responsibility for setting the size and shape of emergency planning zones instead of the Office for Nuclear Regulation.

If there was a radiation leak, a series of measures would be taken for those living within the emergency zone.

This includes evacuation advice and the issuing of iodine tablets.

A new report from EDF Energy says the zone should cover at least 1km, but has not stated any recommendation.

“A brown puddle containing plutonium five times the legal limit leaked from an old ventilation duct at the Sellafield nuclear complex in Cumbria. This exposed “a number of shortfalls in the design”, says the report.

“Groundwater at the Torness nuclear power station near Edinburgh was contaminated with radioactive tritium (an isotope of hydrogen) leaking from two pipelines. At Hartlepool nuclear station on the north-east coast of England, the backup cooling system was put out of action by a faulty valve.”

It seems to me that the apocalyptic reports of nuclear fall-out often lead to very small exclusion zones which because of the rural location of our power plants, should something more catastrophic happen would perhaps radiate out to 20-25 miles.

I am intrigued by the level of detailed planning and provision for those rural communities likely to be affected in such a scenario by the public bodies that serve them.

I once almost drifted professionally into the world of “Emergency Planning” and I wonder what level of robustness underpins the thinking of those responsible for it in this context?