Emergency response vehicles and hundreds of first responders will race to the Maritimes only nuclear power plant next week.

They will be practicing a massive response to an event that officials at Point Lepreau say is highly unlikely -- a nuclear emergency and radiation release.

Workers at Point Lepreau are honing their skills, whether it is with heavy equipment, or with heavy duty generators.

They're getting ready for a full-scale emergency exercise that will put more than one thousand employees and first responders to the test.

Radiation detectors will circle the plant and,  as part of the exercise, detectors will pick up a release of radiation.

Beyond that, NB Power says details of the scenario are being kept secret.

“I cannot give you the exact details of the scenario,” said Nick Reicker, NB Power’s Emergency Superintendent. “We are keeping that under wraps so that for every participant in the exercise it's as real as it can be, and they get the full benefit out of the exercise.”

The nuclear plant is required to hold full-scale exercises like this every three years, as part of its operating license.

This year, 35 agencies will participate including police, firefighters, Red Cross and EMO.

The overall response will be monitored by the Canadian nuclear safety commission, which has approved the exercise scenario.

“You need to test unlikely events to be able to learn and to challenge the system,” said Peter Elder of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. “So, it's very important that these exercises are challenging the system, because that's when you learn the most from the exercises.”

The two-day exercise begins on Wednesday. If the station's response falls short of expectations, there is time for remediation.

“We can actually say, you have a certain amount of time if there are major deficiencies,” Elder said. “In fact, we can order them to address significant deficiencies right away.”

Next week, there will be hundreds of extra people at Point Lepreau and perhaps emergency vehicles racing to and from the nuclear plant, but NB Power wants to reassure people who live in the area that it will be just an exercise.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mike Cameron.