Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire

Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry.

Friday, April 8, 2011

U.S. Health System Judged Unready For Large Nuclear Disaster

The U.S. health care system is not ready to handle the massive number of injuries and other demands that would follow from a large-scale radiation release, the Homeland Security Department determined last year. The finding comes after years of attention to the threat posed by potential terrorist detonation of a crude nuclear weapon or a radiological "dirty bomb," ProPublica reported on Thursday (see GSN, March 30).
"Current capabilities can only handle a few radiation injuries at a time," according to an unpublicized 2010 Homeland Security report. It states that "there is no strategy for notifying the public in real time of recommendations on shelter or evacuation priorities."

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