What Would We Do In Case Of A Nuclear Attack?

August 31, 2006— -- What if a nuclear weapon were to explode in New York City? Or a nuclear power plant were to come under attack outside Chicago? How about a dirty bomb explosion in Washington, DC? Is the U.S. prepared to respond to any of these threats? Not even close, according to Physicians for Social Responsibility.

The Nobel Prize-winning public policy organization studied all three of those frightening scenarios and in a report released today concluded that five years after the September 11th attacks the government "remains dangerously unprepared...to protect its citizens from even more devastating disasters."

"It's pretty depressing," says Dr. Ira Helfand, co-author of The U.S. and Nuclear Terrorism: Still Dangerously Unprepared. "We found that the U.S. government lacks a workable plan to respond to the likely medical needs. Thousands of American civilians injured by a nuclear terrorist attack could survive with better preparedness."

The study estimates that if a 12.5 kiloton nuke were detonated in New York City the blast would kill 52,000 people and another 10,000 would die from the pulse of radiation. Nothing could be done for those 62,000 victims, but what about the 1.5 million people exposed to radiation fallout? "Many of their deaths can be prevented," says Dr. Helfand, "if the government plans and prepares in advance."

But Dr. Helfand insists there is no such plan, at least not that has been made public or even communicated to the nation's first responders. He urgently recommends the government devise a system for determining, based on the particulars of an attack and the prevailing weather conditions, whether people should try to evacuate or take shelter at home or work.

Either way, the study says, within one hour of an attack hospitals will be overwhelmed by "injured, anxious and contaminated patients." It is therefore essential for the government to be able to quickly set up disaster medical care centers. To do that, the study stresses, the government must train many more emergency medical personnel and position supplies and equipment in areas at high risk of attack.