Study: U.S. Emergency Preparedness for Nuclear Event is Poor

WAll Street Journal: Study: U.S. Emergency Preparedness for Nuclear Event is Poor
What if the U.S. suffered some sort of nuclear emergency?

According to a newly published study, state health departments are “poorly prepared to respond adequately to a major radiation emergency incident,” including unintentional exposures in a hospital or on a major roadway as well as intentional exposures, as with a dirty bomb or nuclear detonation. The survey doesn’t, however, cover nuclear power plant preparedness, since states with those plants are required to have specific, detailed emergency response plans.

Results from the survey, which includes responses from 76% of state health departments, are published in the current issue of the journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, which has a section devoted to nuclear-preparedness issues. (The timing of its release is coincidental.)

The authors asked public-health departments about their preparedness to monitor the human health effects of any released radiation from these kind of incidents. Across the different methods of monitoring, between 70% and 84% of states reported having completed minimal to no planning. Some 82% of states reported no or minimal plans to collect biological or clinical samples to assess the impact of radiation exposure.

Most — between 58% and 68% — reported having plans for health alerts and other communication following an incident. And 73% had plans to distribute potassium iodide or other drugs to help protect against the effects of radiation. (The WSJ reports today that suppliers of potassium iodide are reporting brisk sales as U.S. consumers stock up.)

Public-health departments also reported a lack of resources to maintain preparedness. “No more than 4 states reported having sufficient resources for any of the epidemiologic functions associated with a radiation incident,” the authors write.

Only 47% of states reported having a detailed, finalized response plan specifically for a dirty bomb. Only 15% reported having such a plan to deal with a nuclear incident on a waterway, while 55% had a plan for an incident at a hospital or other medical facility and 53% for some kind of roadway incident.

On a scale of 1-10, the average radiological preparedness score was 4.54 — it was a little better for states with a nuclear power plant and a little worse for those without one.