EMERGENCY RISK REDUCTION

Since the Fukashima Nuclear Power Plant disaster and shutdown caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011, the impact of radiation on the public has been in the news. Radiation disasters can be either unintentional or intentional and are generally caused by either human error or a terrorist act.  In this blog, I will concentrate on non-intentional disasters (i.e., accidents). In a separate blog, we can discuss intentional (i.e. politically-motivated) radiation releases.  They are very different, but the impacts can be equally far-reaching.

Radiation disasters are rare but, as we know from Fukashima, the effects may be profound and prolonged. Such disasters may occur at one of numerous locations where radiation sources are utilized or stored. The use of radiation within industry, research, and medicine is extensive, and the effect of nuclear radiation is misunderstood by the public. The government, the medical community, and the general public should support prevention, preparedness, and response measures due to the potential for injury, destruction, and contamination caused by radiation disasters.

Although disasters from radiation exposure are rare occurrences, the short and long-term physical and psychological consequences of an event can be profound. This release of radiation material could include damage to a nuclear power plant, waste reprocessing facility, medical facility, or food irradiation plant.   Other public threats of radioactive material dispersal include a radiological transportation accident, the detonation of a nuclear weapon, or the detonation of a conventional explosive that emits radiation.

Nuclear power plants, such as Fukashima and approximately 200 plants in the US, provide an abundance of electricity that most of us take for granted. They also pose an inherent unintentional radiation risk, due to the potential for release of radioactive elements intothe environment. Additionally, spent reactor fuel rods, which typically are stored for many years, present a hazard because of residual radioactive components. In March 1979, a nuclear power plant at Three Mile Islandin Pennsylvania had a near “meltdown” — defined as an overheating of the fuel rods anda release of radiation. The mishap produced very negligible doses to those living nearby. The psychological effects were much greater than the biological impact.  More significantly, the Three Mile Island accident brought into public focus the safety of nuclear power plants and the potential consequences of a nuclear facility incident.

In April 1986, a power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, had an accident that did produce a meltdown. More than 20,000 square kilometers of land were contaminated and 17 million people were exposed. The delayed effect, which began approximately four years after exposure, included excessive cases of thyroid cancers in adolescents. Approximately 135,000people were permanently evacuated, and more than two decades later, the area remains uninhabited because of persistent concerns about environmental contamination.  Despite these and other reactor accidents, modern nuclear power plants, especially those in developed nations, are less susceptible to mishaps. However design improvements over older models, including redundant safety mechanisms and shutdown procedures, did not prevent Fukashima, where a massive tsunami was not considered in design planning.

In addition, millions of packages of radioactive materials are transported in the United States annually. Shipments consist of medical and industrial products, nuclear power plant fuel, nuclear weapons and weapons material, and radioactive waste generated by hospitals, laboratories, reactors, and military facilities. Despite high frequency of transport, no known serious nuclear radiation exposures have resulted from a transportation accident in the United States. This is amazing! It is due largely to the nature of the radioactive materials transported and careful protective packaging and labeling of the material.

Quite honestly, we don’t realize how much random radiation is in our lives, and how it impacts us – both positively and potentially negatively. As in all potential emergencies, we should be diligent to the potential for a radiation release from any source.

In the next blog, I will speak of intentional radiation, which is usually of a political nature. We will also speak of some simple preparedness measures.

Monty