Prevention is the only option to deal with nuclear accidents
Radiation is silent and invisible and the potential for long-term serious health effects are concepts that are difficult to grasp by the lay person. The need to educate the public could undermine the, until now, strongly projected assurance by both nuclear operators and government agencies, that nuclear power is safe…..
RECOMMENDATIONS: According to the new PSR report: “The past experience with catastrophic nuclear accidents and their frequency indicates that no country is prepared physically or financially to deal with the short and long term effects. As opposed to natural disasters, experience has shown us that nuclear catastrophes do not remain isolated but tend to become global problems affecting us all. Such preparations in the U.S. will likely be useless if a similar accident happens in countries such as North Korea, Pakistan, or other countries that have nuclear power reactors but no emergency plans. In reality, there is no cure once these events have happened; the only options are mitigation and palliation. In the absence of a cure, prevention is the only option.”
Physicians for Social Responsibility PSR Report: U.S. First Responders, Medical Infrastructure not Prepared for Fukushima-Level Reactor Crisis in the United States Market Watch, WASHINGTON, March 6, 2012 — One Year After Japanese Disaster, Little or No Movement Seen in U.S. to Improve Response Capability; Complicating Factors: Growing Population Near Nuclear Sites, Aging Reactors & Lack of Gov’t Coordination.
One year after the Fukushima reactor crisis in Japan, no meaningful progress has been achieved in improving the ability of first responders and medical professionals to react to a disaster on a similar scale in the United States, according to a major new report from Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR).
To underscore their point, PSR representatives participated in a news conference with a Japanese first responder from Fukushima and a second Japanese expert on the nuclear power industry in that nation.
Titled “Nuclear Power And Public Health: Lessons From Fukushima, Still Dangerously Unprepared,” the PSR report notes: “Existing U.S. emergency preparedness drills do not consider prolonged station black out, severe regional natural disasters, or multi reactor events … The U.S. has not developed the capability to inform and direct emergency personnel and the public in real time during an unfolding severe event, regarding actual radiation levels, plume directions, food and water safety, timely distribution of stable potassium iodide, or the rationale of sheltering-in-place advisories to the public.”
Dr. Ira Helfand, North American vice president, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, said: “While there is an urgent need to improve our preparedness for a major nuclear accident we also need to understand that there is no planning possible for some of the worst consequences of a nuclear disaster.”…..
Over the past 40 years populations have grown markedly in the 10- and 50-mile established evacuation zones surrounding operating U.S. commercial nuclear reactors. Since 1980, populations around nuclear reactor stations have grown considerably, by an average of 17 percent within 10 miles of reactor stations in the U.S; however in some vicinities, populations have doubled. In a worst case scenario at the Indian Point nuclear station near New York City, the logistics of evacuation of the 17.3 million people living within 50 miles of the station would be impossible.
Nearly all spent nuclear fuel ever created by U.S. commercial reactors, approximately 72,000 tons, has accumulated and is still stored at U.S. reactor stations. In the U.S., 75 percent of all spent fuel is still in wet cooling pools that are poorly protected, remaining highly vulnerable to loss of cooling events, terrorist attack, and to severe natural disasters.
Severe weather/natural disaster events approaching those of Fukushima are no longer uncommon in the U.S. ……
The U.S. has not developed the programs to educate the public on radioactivity and radiologic hazards before possible accidents happen. Radiation is silent and invisible and the potential for long-term serious health effects are concepts that are difficult to grasp by the lay person. The need to educate the public could undermine the, until now, strongly projected assurance by both nuclear operators and government agencies, that nuclear power is safe…..
RECOMMENDATIONS: According to the new PSR report: “The past experience with catastrophic nuclear accidents and their frequency indicates that no country is prepared physically or financially to deal with the short and long term effects. As opposed to natural disasters, experience has shown us that nuclear catastrophes do not remain isolated but tend to become global problems affecting us all. Such preparations in the U.S. will likely be useless if a similar accident happens in countries such as North Korea, Pakistan, or other countries that have nuclear power reactors but no emergency plans. In reality, there is no cure once these events have happened; the only options are mitigation and palliation. In the absence of a cure, prevention is the only option.” The PSR report conclusion continues: “Short of prevention, PSR makes the following recommendations. Each recommendation would ease at least some of the attendant problems associated with such emergencies:…….http://www.marketwatch.com/story/psr-report-us-first-responders-medical-infrastructure-not-prepared-for-fukushima-level-reactor-crisis-in-the-united-states-2012-03-06
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