Emergency Response to Nuclear Disasters or Incidents - Literature review Example

Emergency Response to Nuclear Disasters or Incidents Introduction The world is facing severe energy crisis at present and the conventional energy sources of the petroleum products is exhausting day by day. Some reports show that the available petroleum resources may last for another twenty years more only. Thus the world is forced to look for other options and nuclear energy found to be the best available option at present because of the immense availability of resources and less impacts nuclear energy caused to the environment problems like global warming. On the other hand, world is aware of the fact that any disaster caused by the nuclear reactors would be severe compared to other disasters. We have already witnessed how severe the nuclear disaster incidents in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl etc. While the first two incidents were deliberate ones caused by the nuclear bomb explosions whereas the Chernobyl disaster was an unexpected accident occurred at Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. “A taped interview shown September 10, 2002, on Arab TV station al-Jazeera, which contains a statement that Al Qaeda initially planned to include a nuclear plant in its 2001 attack sites, intensified concern about aircraft crashes” (Holt and Andrews, 2007). So, response programs or packages for nuclear disasters, both for expected and unexpected calamities, are essential in the current world. Nuclear radiations coming out from the nuclear disaster sites would act differently. An important effect of nuclear detonation is the generation of intense thermal pulse of energy which can destroy or cause immense injuries to living things and the natural resources. (Planning guidance for response to a nuclear detonation, 2009, p.19) “The biological effects of ionizing radiation depend on the amount of energy deposited in the body, called the absorbed dose. Higher doses produce direct clinical effects including tissue damage, radiation sickness and, at very high levels, rapid death. With chronic low-level exposure, no clinical effects are observed, but the exposed individual may have an increased lifetime risk of developing cancer” (Medalia, 2004, p.2) “Many misconceptions prevail concerning the risks from radiation exposure and radiation emergencies, which can lead to decision making and public actions that do more harm than good. Therefore, preplanning on the basis of established principles of radiation protection and safety is essential” (International Atomic Energy Agency, 2009) Preplanned training modules must focus giving proper training to students, NPP (Nuclear Power Plant) personnel and first responders under abnormal conditions (fire, security threat, etc.). These training should be conducted in virtual radioactive environment (visible radiation) to respond to emergency scenarios. (Uddin, n. d) Nuclear disasters are not easy to manage like other disaster managements. A comprehensive disaster management package is necessary for managing nuclear disasters. Since the after effects of the nuclear disasters lasts for hundreds of years, handling of nuclear energy and the nuclear power plants or weapons should be done with utmost care. The thirst for solving energy crisis may force the countries to acquire nuclear energy technologies at any cost and they may often forget about the basic needs of developing a response program in case a nuclear disaster occurs unexpectedly. This paper briefly analyses the various emergency response strategies if a nuclear disaster happens. Response to Nuclear Disasters – Literature review The disaster caused by the failures of nuclear power plants or nuclear bomb explosions are unimaginable and difficult to control also. Nuclear radiations coming out in the form of heat and other harmful rays like alpha beta and gamma can cause physical as well as mental problems to the affected people. So nuclear disaster responses must be carefully planned. “It is important to design and assess emergency response systems from various aspects and standpoints, in a comprehensive manner to maintain social safety and a public sense of security. Evacuation and shelter are required when there is a possibility of intolerable exposure of residence to radiation. Once the evacuation is decided upon as a countermeasure, it is supposed to be conducted on the initiatives of the national or local governments” (Kanno et al, 2006). Analysis of the type and extent of the contamination, Development of a plan to remediate the affected area, Receive Federal, State, and local government approval for the plan, Execute the plan, Monitor the results etc are the basic steps involved in managing a nuclear disaster effectively (Nuclear Weapon Accident Response Procedures (NARP),2005, p.102) Lot of countries like United States, Russia, China, India, Pakistan etc possess nuclear technology and have nuclear plants. These countries are geographically, culturally and politically different and hence the policies governing to the management of nuclear disaster might be different. It is not necessary that the disaster management policies adopted in one country may be suitable to the other country. But in general some common practices are accepted worldwide for dealing with nuclear disasters. “Locational considerations other than distance, including physical features of the local environment, population distribution, and local land use patterns, may play a significant role in the decision-making process (Johnson, 1985. p.408). At the accident site the operator or licensee for the practice is in general responsible for controlling the event. The licensee may also be the first organization to take the initiative in implementing off-site protective actions close to the site based on emergency plans. In the longer term the decision-making is subject to a country’s administrative and legal system” (Sinkko, 2007, p.19). “Swift and wide-area measures should be taken against radioactive contamination which cannot be felt by the five senses. Special drills and equipment and expert advices are needed to effectively implement the emergency response. The responsibility of licensees should be clarified who cause accidents and know well about the subject facility” (Nuclear Emergency Preparedness & Response in Japan, Nuclear Emergency Preparedness, n. d. p.9) Previous researches have shown that the responses of the people to emergency warning depend on various factors like; environmental cues (physical characteristics of the setting in which the public receives emergency information, interact with the information factors), Social setting (whether or not the family is united when the warning is delivered, what activities are being performed at that time, and what others are doing to respond), Social ties, Social structure (Characteristics of the risk area population — such as resources, gender, or socioeconomic class — can influence understanding, belief, personalization, and response), Psychological factors (cognitive abilities to interpret a warning), Pre-warning perceptions (People filter information to conform with their pre-existing views of the world) etc. (Mileti &Peek, n. d., p.189) the above factors must be taken into the account when any nuclear disaster management packages are formulated. Three types of personnel, Decision makers, Evaluators, Implementors (Crichton & Flin, 2004, p.1320) are involved in the decisions making process of a nuclear disaster management process. “The decision-making process in a NPP (Nuclear power plant) is a complex process, due to the many elements involved in its operation, and the permanent attention demanded by its maintenance. At the present time, the decision making process in a NPP is analyzed and developed by reactor operators, based on a set of instructions as well as flow charts to mitigate the consequences of a broad range of transients, accidents and multiple equipment failures, whose main characteristic is to be linear representations of events within a scenario” (Paredes et al, 2008, p.2387) The NPP operators are responsible for taking emergency decisions once the NPP shows signs of failure. At the same time they must immediately inform the failure details to the concerning public agencies outside also. Outside agencies must take proper decisions after analyzing various aspects of the problem with the help of evaluators. These decisions need to be implemented as quickly as possible with the help of the implementors. ‘The protection strategy for the population affected by a nuclear or radiological accident is, first of all, to do everything possible to avoid deterministic health effects and thereafter to implement protective actions with the aim of averting doses to the population and to avoid stochastic health effects. The deterministic health effect in radiation protection is defined to mean health risks such as death or vomiting and stochastic effects, e.g., cancer cases. The implementation of protective action - including no-action – entails harm and benefit to the population, e.g., monetary costs, social disruption, and psychological or physical health risks’ (Sinkko, 2007, p.16) “The three ways to minimize radiation exposure are: distance, shielding and time: The more distance between you and the source of the radiation the better. In a serious nuclear power plant accident, local authorities will call for an evacuation to increase the distance between you and the radiation. Like distance, the more heavy, dense material between you and the source of the radiation the better. This is why local authorities could advise you to remain indoors if an accident occurs at a nearby nuclear power plant. In some cases, the walls in your home would be sufficient shielding to protect you. Most radioactivities lose its strength fairly quickly” (ARE YOU READY? n .d) “If the radioactive contamination is expected to include 131I, the immediate action should be to consider stopping local milk consumption until levels of 131I contamination have been established. If possible, detailed information and instructions should be obtained from the relevant government authority” (International Atomic Energy Agency, 2009). 131I (Iodine) is a radioactive isotope of Iodine. It can be easily absorbed by food items especially the milk like food items. When 131I is present in high levels in the environment from radioactive disasters, it can be absorbed through contaminated food, and will be deposited in the thyroid. Since it is radioactive (Radioactive decay is the process of an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting harmful radiations like alpha, beta and gamma) in nature, as it decays it may cause damage to the thyroid. These damages can be in the form of radiogenic thyroid cancer of non-cancerous growths and thyroiditis. Nuclear radiations are electromagnetic radiations which can travel at a high speed. “Because the dispersal of radiological material would likely be uneven, the level of radiation in different areas would vary depending on meteorological factors, such as wind speed and precipitation” (Shea, 2004, p.5) So the immediate response to a nuclear disaster should be the protection of food items and drinking water. Contaminated food items can cause severe health problems later in life of persons who has consumed it. So any nuclear disaster response program should give prior responsibility in preventing contamination in any form. The following points might be useful in responding to a nuclear disaster. If there is time before direct radioactive fallout (airborne, rainfall) reaches your area, undertake the following immediate measures: PROTECT growing vegetables and animal fodder - cover with plastic sheets or tarpaulins; BRING livestock in from pasture - move animals into a shed or barn; HARVEST any ripe crops and place under cover. Do not consume locally produced milk or vegetables; Do not slaughter animals; Do not process or distribute food products; Do not fish, hunt or gather mushrooms or other forest foods. Other actions to consider: Prevent the ingestion of contaminated herbage by grazing animals; Avoid direct contamination of food or agricultural products; House animals which would normally be grazing outdoors and provide uncontaminated forage; Prohibit hunting, fishing, mushroom collection, and consumption of vegetables and water derived from surface water or precipitation. In potentially contaminated areas: Do not use water for irrigation; Avoid direct contamination of food or agricultural products; Do not burn vegetation or any material stored outdoors, including firewood; Do not create dust, i.e., by soil tillage. (International Atomic Energy Agency, 2009) In case of an emergency, the nuclear power plant operator must inform the state and local emergency response organizations immediately and should act as per the advices of these public organizations. Beaches, parks, schools, like public places must be immediately closed and the people from such areas must be transferred as soon as possible to the safer places. Agriculture, public and food protective measures also need to be taken around the affected area. Local emergency must be declared in order to make the people aware of the seriousness of the situation and the evacuation process must be started as soon as possible. Nuclear disaster response programs can be divided into different stages based on the nature and place of operations. The first phase of operations must be concentrated on the area of disaster. Normal person cannot work on the disaster areas unlike other natural disasters because of the severity of damages the invisible radioactive radiations can cause to the health. Public agencies or nuclear disaster prevention or management agencies must be informed and called up on the site for the rescue operations. The next phase is evacuation of the patients. Evacuation of the patients must be properly planned with respect to the geographical peculiarities of the affected place. Road, rail or air transportation needed to be used to evacuate the affected people to safe places. Different evacuation strategies should be considered for different times of day and night. ‘During the night hours (i.e., late evening to early morning), the vast majority of an areas population is likely to be at its place of residence. It is also likely that at the start of any night evacuation the levels of on the-road traffic are minimal. In contrast, daytime evacuations involve populations in transit, or at work, school, special facilities, home, or other locations’ (Development of Evacuation Time Estimate Studies for Nuclear Power Plants, 2004, p.7) The last phase of nuclear disaster response program should be the management of hospital facilities. The hospitals must be prepared to meet any critical situations and the following points must be remembered while preparing hospitals for nuclear disaster management; The hospital buildings and services must be prepared for the influx of large numbers of patients; the personnel must be increased in number, ensuring that they have the specific training for the specific work required; reserve stocks of materials and drugs must be maintained; preparedness of local resources, available in the neighborhood of areas at potential risk, as located and marked on maps; location of preferential access routes in order to speed up traffic to and from the disaster scene; training of local medical workers for interventions, according to pre-established plans; link-ups between specialized Centres and between the latter and neighboring hospitals; organization of patient transfer away from the disaster area, not forgetting that the first need is not hospitalization but immediate medical treatment; selection of patients with the best survival prospects for admittance to specialized Centres; rational deployment of volunteers in order to prevent their assistance from turning out to be negative in the overall management of the disaster etc (Magliacani, 1991) Medical aid for the affected people can be done in three stages. During the first stage, immediate intervention at the affected area is required to reduce the casualties. It may not be possible to arrange services of the experienced medical staff at the site immediately. Locally available medical staff must be utilized for the initial stages of medical operations. At the same time every effort must be done to bring the experienced medical personnel who are specially trained for dealing nuclear disasters. The intervention of experienced personnel might be helpful for the local people and medical professionals also as these experienced personnel can educate or give instructions and guidance about the utilization of the locally available resources. After giving the first aid the affected people need to be transferred from the site to the nearest local or regional hospital. Planning Standards and Evaluation Criteria according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for a nuclear disaster is; Accident Assessment; Assignment of Responsibility; Emergency Classification System; Emergency Communications; Emergency Facility and Equipment; Emergency Response Support and Resources; Exercises and Drills; Medical and Public Health Support; Notification Methods and Procedures; Onsite Emergency Organization; Protective Response; Public Education and Information; Radiological Emergency Response Training; Radiological Exposure Control; Recovery and Reentry Planning and Post-Accident Operations; Responsibility for the Planning Effort: Development, Periodic Review and Distribution of; Emergency Plans etc (Nuclear Emergency Response Program, n. d) [AFRAT - Air Force Radiation Assessment Team, AMS - Aerial Measuring System, ARG - Accident Response Group, FRMAC - Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center MRAT - Medical Radiobiology Advisory Team, NARAC - National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center, RAMT - Radiological Advisory Medical Team, RAP - Radiological Assistance Program, REAC/ TS - Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/ Training Site, WMD-CST - Weapons of Mass Destruction–Civil Support Tea] (MAIELLO AND GROVES, 2006, p.31) Conclusions Nuclear disaster management is not an easy task when we compare other disasters. The invisible radiations coming out of the nuclear power plants along with the immense amount of heat energy can cause severe damages to living and nonliving things. Nuclear disasters can be managed with the help of trained public disaster management agencies; it is not easy for the common public to participate in the rescue operations because of the invisible risks involved. It is not possible to devise a uniform strategy for dealing with nuclear disasters because of the geographical or environmental differences, difference in technologies used at different places. Moreover, the response of the people, infrastructure facilities for rescue operations may also vary from place to place. References 1. A Preventable Homeland Security Catastrophe 2. Anthony Johnson James H., Jr, (1985), A Model of Evacuation--Decision Making in a Nuclear Reactor Emergency, American Geographical Society Retrieved on 13 November 2009 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/214409 3. 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